The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) is Michael Curtiz's lavish Tudor romance, and you can watch it online on iFILM. An aging queen loves a much younger earl — and the feeling could crack her throne in two.

Robert Devereux rides back to court a conqueror, fresh from sinking Spain's fleet, his name on every tongue. Elizabeth answers his glory with a slap rather than a reward; the whole court is whispering that the earl wants her crown. From there it loops — pride flares, the two part, the Irish war becomes an excuse to call him home, they reconcile, and vanity wrecks it all again. Bette Davis plays a ruler torn between her heart and her power, certain that whichever she keeps will cost her dearly.

Errol Flynn is her vain Essex, with Olivia de Havilland and a very young Vincent Price filling out the court. Shot in early three-strip Technicolor on Warner Bros. soundstages, all velvet and gold, it trades pageantry for a duel of two stubborn people whose every embrace is laced with politics. Stream The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) online on iFILM.