Word: bess
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Queen Bess, based on Margaret Irwin's 1944 bestselling novel...
...Young Bess (MGM) is an ideal coronation-year movie. Its heroine is Elizabeth I (1533-1603), who, like the present Elizabeth, became Queen of England...
Although it presents a rather romanticized view of history, Young Bess is a better than average historical movie. It has rich Tudor sets and costumes, some literate dialogue and an excellent cast. As young Bess, Jean Simmons gives a spirited performance that has both charm and imperiousness. Stewart Granger makes a dashing Tom Seymour, Guy Rolfe a convincingly evil villain, and Deborah Kerr a beautiful Catherine Parr. In the role of gross, big-bellied Henry VIII, Charles Laughton is again cast in the part that won him a 1933 Academy Award in The Private Life of Henry VIII. He seems...
...that he had finished his new opera Gloriana, which will have its premiere in Covent Garden six days after the coronation. His next task, said Britten, is to locate a dozen trumpets and trumpeteers "who can look Elizabethan," since the opera is about the life of the first Queen Bess...
...Broadway musicomedy annexes Hollywood as well. From the opening scene, she sparkplugs the picture with a powerhouse personality. When she is in front of the camera-kicking at her train and tugging at her girdle before a royal reception, or holding a running phone conversation with "Harry" about Bess's health and Margaret's press notices-the show never has a chance to lag. When she lets loose full power with such tunes as Can You Use Any Money Today? and The Hostess with the Mostes' on the Ball, with every syllable loud, intact and sharply enunciated...