Press Release Warner Archive Press Release: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH & ESSEX (1939) New 2021 1080p HD Master sourced from 4k scan of Original Technicolor Negatives!
Run Time 106:00
Subtitles English SDH
Audio Specs DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English, MONO - English
Aspect Ratio 1.37:1, 4x3 FULL FRAME
Disc Configuration BD 50
SPECIAL FEATURES: Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1939 with Newsreel, Musical Short "The Royal Rodeo", Cartoon "Old Glory" and Theatrical Trailer; Featurette "Elizabeth and Essex: Battle Royale"
Bette Davis and Errol Flynn made The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex fascinatingly public, striking sparks in this lavish Technicolor® tale of the ill-fated love between the aging Elizabeth I and the dashing Earl of Essex. Thoroughly unglamorous here – eyes and hairline shaved, face painted chalky white – double Academy Award® winner* Davis exudes such intelligence, energy and ardor that her romance with the decades-younger Essex (Flynn at the peak of his remarkable good looks and athletic verve) is completely believable. Based on Maxwell Anderson’s play Elizabeth the Queen and directed by Michael Curtiz, this nominee for five Oscars® takes liberties with historical accuracy, but none with dramatic impact. Long may these tempestuous, titled lovers reign!

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It looks like it's a varied & generous batch for next month, but this film is the only one I'll be buying. What a great release.

This one ought to look pretty scrumptious.

Strangely, this is one of the few Errol Flynn titles I don't like.

Oh, I'm sure it will look tremendous (obviously better than the DVD, which I acquired as part of a set and gave away), but it just left me cold. Something that none of the the other Flynn titles do.

Now Captain Blood is my #1 wish (among all titles).

David_B_K said:

This one ought to look pretty scrumptious.

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Yes, that's what I'm thinking. The film is no masterpiece (far from it), but the Warner production is top notch, & it's my favourite Korngold score, & looking at that YouTube clip...wow! It looks amazing.

...&, er...more swashbucklers please Warner.

David Weicker said:

Strangely, this is one of the few Errol Flynn titles I don't like.

Oh, I'm sure it will look tremendous (obviously better than the DVD, which I acquired as part of a set and gave away), but it just left me cold. Something that none of the the other Flynn titles do.

Now Captain Blood is my #1 wish (among all titles).

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It's not among my Flynn favorites, but it has Olivia and Bette too so I'll definitely be buying it. The movie always reminds me about that conversation Olivia and Bette had about Flynn, when they watched this movie together after Flynn's death.

Billy Batson said:

Yes, that's what I'm thinking. The film is no masterpiece (far from it), but the Warner production is top notch, & it's my favourite Korngold score, & looking at that YouTube clip...wow! It looks amazing.

...&, er...more swashbucklers please Warner.

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I've always thought the film score to E & E has never gotten the attention it deserves. When Charles Gerhardt recorded those great Classic Film Scores albums in the 70's, he only did a small part of this score, and he truncated that noble and beautiful main title theme. Fortunately Carl Davis recorded the entire score and Andre Previn did a longer suite of the score.

Robert Crawford said:

It's not among my Flynn favorites, but it has Olivia and Bette too so I'll definitely be buying it. The movie always reminds me about that conversation Olivia and Bette had about Flynn, when they watched this movie together after Flynn's death.

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I'm always pleased to have more Olivia and Bette on Blu. After Olivia's death last July, I was hoping Warners might release more of her work on Blu-ray, and Elizabeth and Essex was at the top of my wish list. I'm really looking forward to this.

Robert Crawford said:

It's not among my Flynn favorites, but it has Olivia and Bette too so I'll definitely be buying it. The movie always reminds me about that conversation Olivia and Bette had about Flynn, when they watched this movie together after Flynn's death.

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And that slap! Don't forget that slap!

"The most beautiful person we've ever had on the screen... He openly said he knew nothing about acting, and I admired his honesty because he was absolutely right."
-- Bette Davis on Errol Flynn

C'mon WB give us BLU of Northwest Passage!!!!!! Off the OCN's

The DVD had some problems so I'm looking forward to this one big time. I'm not surprised the Flynn lovers aren't fans of the movie. It's not his movie, it's Bette's all the way. I must confess however that I prefer Bette's Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen (1955) to her Elizabeth I here.

Mark McSherry said:

And that slap! Don't forget that slap!

"The most beautiful person we've ever had on the screen... He openly said he knew nothing about acting, and I admired his honesty because he was absolutely right."
-- Bette Davis on Errol Flynn

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Yet, she told Olivia that Flynn was a much better actor than she gave him credit for being.

Robert Crawford said:

Yet, she told Olivia that Flynn was a much better actor than she gave him credit for being.

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Yes, but that conversation was many years after Errol died---

When watching The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex many years later with her great friend Olivia de Havilland, Bette admitted she was wrong about Errol: "Damn it! The man could act!"

Mark McSherry said:

Yes, but that conversation was many years after Errol died---

When watching The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex many years later with her great friend Olivia de Havilland, Bette admitted she was wrong about Errol: "Damn it! The man could act!"

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I'm not disputing the timing of her comments, but that she finally admitted that he could act. I'm sure Olivia always suggested such to her BF, but that Bette was stubborn not to admit it.

I, for one, am looking forward to this release. I really like the movie. I'll also take any other Errol Flynn they see fit to release, especially Captain Blood.

Mark McSherry said:

And that slap! Don't forget that slap!

"The most beautiful person we've ever had on the screen... He openly said he knew nothing about acting, and I admired his honesty because he was absolutely right."
-- Bette Davis on Errol Flynn

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I'm glad Flynn "knew nothing about acting". He is one of the great movie stars who only had to be "Errol Flynn". He is at his best when he plays "Errol Flynn" type roles (dashing, impudent, physically adept, witty, comfortable in romantic scenes, etc). If other actors played similar roles they wanted to be like him. When he tried more serious acting roles he was not as successful.

When I was younger and a theater major, I was more interested in "great acting", like Olivier and other great British stage actors. Now I am more interested in the iconic stars like Flynn, Duke, Mitchum, et al who naturally inhabited their roles because the roles were tailored to them.

I'll be pre-ordering this title, but, as much as I have been advocating for WAC to release more Errol Flynn, this title would have been very low on my priority list. Captain Blood, Gentleman Jim, Desperate Journey, The Charge of the Light Brigade, etc. would have been my choices, but I'll take what I can get. I'm sure the Technicolor restoration will be superb so I'm still looking forward to this release.

David_B_K said:

I'm glad Flynn "knew nothing about acting". He is one of the great movie stars who only had to be "Errol Flynn". He is at his best when he plays "Errol Flynn" type roles (dashing, impudent, physically adept, witty, comfortable in romantic scenes, etc). If other actors played similar roles they wanted to be like him. When he tried more serious acting roles he was not as successful.

When I was younger and a theater major, I was more interested in "great acting", like Olivier and other great British stage actors. Now I am more interested in the iconic stars like Flynn, Duke, Mitchum, et al who naturally inhabited their roles because the roles were tailored to them.

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Peter O'Toole's character in My Favorite Year is based on Errol Flynn. In the film, O'Toole's character quips, "I'm not an actor. I'm a movie star!". That about sums it up. Still, toward the end of his career Flynn showed some surprising acting chops in Too Much Too Soon and The Sun Also Rises.

This will be just the 4th Errol Flynn Bluray title released by WB ! That's a Slap in the Face !