Where does one start? Like all other films about Mary Queen of Scots the plot line veers dizzyingly from the actual events of her life (for example Bothwell is portrayed as her enemy whereas he was actually one of her staunchest supporters). Zarah Leander is badly miscast in the title role - she's just too old and too statuesque for the part. This is painfully highlighted in her scenes with her four Marys. They were actually chosen to be her companions and were roughly the same age as the queen. In this film she comes across as a mother hen figure or a favourite high-school teacher to a quartet of slim young lovlies. The effects of this miscasting are hard to convey to English speakers but the nearest I can come to is to imagine Joan Crawford in the role emoting as she did in Mildred Pierce. The result is one of inadvertent camp comedy especially when La Leander lays on the patient suffering act which was her trademark (especiallyin her walk to the block). The sets, though, are magnificent - wonderful fantasies on renaissance Scottish and English architecture. The costumes too are as near to accurate as possible although there are some oddities such as Darnley's natty line in weird pointy shoulder pads and mini-kilts. Could have done without the miserable dirges that they felt obliged to give Zarah to perform, but she had to sing I suppose as she was, basically, known as an operetta/musical star. As it was released in 1940 the propaganda message is as subtle as the Blitz - perfidious Albion (Queen Elizabeth 1) being horrible to poor suffering German womanhood. I was interested to see Das Hertz der Koenigin but wouldn't be in any hurry to repeat the experience.
Review of The Heart of a Queen
