Victoria the Great (1937)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Herbert Wilcox

Writers:

Miles Malleson (writer) and
Charles de Grandcourt (writer)

Release Date:

28 October 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot Keywords:

Queen Of England | Historical | Queen Victoria | Royalty | Queen

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Anna Neagle	...	Queen Victoria
Anton Walbrook	...	Prince Albert
Walter Rilla	...	Prince Ernest
H.B. Warner	...	Lord Melbourne
Mary Morris	...	Duchess of Kent
James Dale	...	Duke of Wellington
Felix Aylmer	...	Lord Palmerston
Charles Carson	...	Sir Robert Peel
Gordon McLeod	...	John Brown
C.V. France	...	Archbishop of Canterbury
Arthur Young	...	Rt. Hon. William Gladstone
Greta Schröder	...	Baroness Lehzen (as Grete Wegener)
Paul Leyssac	...	Baron Stockmar
Derrick De Marney	...	Younger Disraeli
Hugh Miller	...	Older Disraeli

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Herbert Wilcox Productions

Trivia:

The period locomotive seen in this film is called "The Lion". It was one of the very first locomotives in the world, and was built in 1837 to transport passengers and luggage on the world's first passenger railway line between Liverpool and Manchester. It was rediscovered in 1923 and restored to working order. It is now on display in the Museum of Liverpool.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Young Victoria (2009)

Some nice moments in dated biography

I had long been anxious to see this famous British biography, and finally found a copy available. Featuring a renowned performance by Anna Neagle, one of Great Britain's most famed golden age actresses, as Queen Victoria, this film was a huge hit when released during Coronation Summer in 1937. Although not made with US audiences in mind, VICTORIA THE GREAT also hit big in the states and resulted in producer/director Herbert Wilcox and future wife Neagle making a lucrative deal to work at RKO studios. The Wilcox/Neagle RKO films never achieved the level of acclaim enjoyed by their pairings in the UK, and they returned home during the war to many years of success.

Telling the story of Victoria's courtship and marriage to Prince Albert, VICTORIA THE GREAT has a very dated and sometimes static feel to it when compared to Hollywood films of the same era. It does, however, contain some very nice moments between Neagle's Victoria and Anton Walbrook's Albert, and Victoria has never, to my knowledge, been portrayed with such humanity and tenderness (at least until MRS. BROWN.) Lavishly produced, and with a Diamond Jubilee finale in TECHNICOLOR (one has to assume the original dye transfer prints were much more impressive than the muddy quality of the videocassette I viewed)it's easy to see why this appealed to 1937 British audiences reeling from the glamor of George VI's coronation that June. So successful was this biopic that Wilcox and Neagle filmed and released a sequel the following year, 60 GLORIOUS YEARS, shot entirely in TECHNICOLOR.

While not nearly as technically slick as such Hollywood biopics as MARIE ANTOINETTE or THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, this one is definitely worth a look for history lovers and royal watchers. It's also a chance to see Dame Anna Neagle in one of her most famous portrayals.