FIRE OVER ENGLAND
International relations
Philip II's Spain is beleaguered by English pirates. The Spanish ambassador turns up at the court of Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) to protest. Elizabeth insists she has nothing to do with piracy, and considers herself Philip's loving sister (as history buffs will know, he was married to her half-sister, Mary I). "His portrait still hangs in a place of honour," she assures the ambassador. "My king does not ask your grace to hang his portrait, but to hang his enemies," the ambassador zings back.
Piracy
Meanwhile, fictional English pirate's son Michael Ingolby (Laurence Olivier) is aboard a ship when it is taken by the Inquisition. He jumps overboard and swims to the Spanish coast. Conveniently, he stumbles ashore at the palace of an old friend of his father's. Even more conveniently, the old friend of his father's has a comely daughter, Elena (Tamara Desni). Soon he's having a whale of a time hanging out on a Spanish beach, wearing a silly hat, singing songs and indulging in a light holiday romance.
Justice
The reverie sours when Michael sees smoke rising from nearby Lisbon. (The film's geography is baffling: Lisbon, being slap-bang in the middle of 16th-century Portugal, would not have been visible from anywhere in Spain – though it was the port from which the Spanish Armada sailed.) The Inquisition has condemned his father to die by fire. Michael flies into a hammy tantrum. "If only you knew how I loathed you all! Your Spanish faces, your Spanish voices!" he bellows at his hosts. "You've made me your household pet, but you've burned my father!" This scene is perhaps not supposed to be quite as hilarious as it is.
Casting
Michael flees to England on a fishing boat, and swiftly disarms an assassin heading for Elizabeth. "I would give you my life," he tells the queen. "Would you?" she replies, caustically. "Would you give me your silly young life?" She's magnificent. But Michael is distracted by the dewy beauty of her lady-in-waiting, Lord Burghley's fictional granddaughter, Cynthia (Vivien Leigh). This was Olivier and Leigh's first film together, and they were both still married to other people at the time – though not for long. They're disarmingly gorgeous on screen: Leigh sparkling and catlike; Olivier a 1930s Henry Cavill, only slightly less inflated and wearing more guyliner.
Even so, it's Robson who steals this show. She may not be as stunning as her co-stars, but she's by turns charming, earthy and surprisingly vulnerable, with a crackling wit. She's perfect as Elizabeth – a role she reprised three years later, in Errol Flynn vehicle The Sea Hawk.
Spying
Elizabeth sends Michael to spy on Philip II (Raymond Massey). "Make up the fire," the Spanish king orders a flunkey. "This hot April day?" asks the flunkey. Philip replies, in a tone that can only have been inspired by Bela Lugosi's Dracula: "I am. Always. Cold." Politically, you'd expect this film to be one-sided, and it is. There's a fun fictional subplot that allows Michael plenty of scope for sword fights, scampering around rooftops, setting fire to things and so forth, and gives him another go with the now-married Elena. Back in England, Cynthia pines for him unwarrantedly.
Battle
The film rejoins history at Tilbury, where Elizabeth is preparing to defeat the Spanish Armada. The navy's real commanders, Francis Drake and Lord Howard, have been written out of the film; instead, it's Michael who sends the fireships. To Elizabeth's annoyance, he wants to celebrate afterwards by marrying Cynthia. This leaves the queen with no one to flirt with, except her troublesome old flame the Earl of Leicester (Leslie Banks). "I'll have no married folk at my court," she growls. "I'm a married man," Leicester admits, earning the queenly riposte: "More fool you."
Verdict
Though Fire Over England is fictionalised, it's entertaining and has a decent grasp of the historical context. Moreover, its Elizabeth is one of the finest you'll see on screen.ture
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