THE VIRGIN QUEEN (1955) **1/2 "Not all devils dwell in darkness. Some bask in sunlight, and call themselves Devon men." Bette Davis is someone brilliant and even more entertaining, but I don't think it's Queen Elizabeth. She's royalty, unquestionably, has the presence, the credibility to dominate, the regal derangednesss and abbreviated sense of fair play-but it's all too clear that she wants you to understand that she was born in Massachusetts, rather than any of those unbearably haughty drawing rooms with high ceilings and dry countenances and even colder air. By the same standard Richard Todd portrays a guy with an interesting career trajectory, but it's more of a Robert Louis Stevenson character than the historical Sir Walter Raleigh. Joan Collins (not, to my understanding, ever considered for the title role), now she may be about right. She overacts in an overwrought manner more amusing than convincing, but that's probably about how the ladies of the royal courts were. So, it's passable, and more when Queen Bette says words like "trees," and "strumpet."
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