Fire Over England (1937)

Queen Elizabeth is running this show. The men in her court should be thinking about how to add to the glory of the Elizabethan Age and how to foil those pesky Spanish who got far too much ... See full summary »

Director:

William K. Howard

Writers:

A.E.W. Mason (novel), Clemence Dane (screenplay)

Stars:

Laurence Olivier, Flora Robson, Vivien Leigh

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Flora Robson	...	Queen Elizabeth
Raymond Massey	...	Philip of Spain
Leslie Banks	...	Leicester
Laurence Olivier	...	Michael
Vivien Leigh	...	Cynthia
Morton Selten	...	Burleigh
Tamara Desni	...	Elena
Lyn Harding	...	Sir Richard
George Thirlwell	...	Gregory
Henry Oscar	...	Spanish Ambassador
Robert Rendel	...	Don Miguel (as Robert Rendell)
Robert Newton	...	Don Pedro
Donald Calthrop	...	Don Escobal
James Mason	...	Vane
Charles Carson	...	Adm. Valdez

Storyline

Queen Elizabeth is running this show. The men in her court should be thinking about how to add to the glory of the Elizabethan Age and how to foil those pesky Spanish who got far too much influence in England when her older sister Mary was on the throne after their father Henry VIII was succeeded by their sickly half brother. Elizabeth thinks Michael Ingolby can do great things. Michael is mostly thinking about one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting, Cynthia. Soon his mind is on survival when Elizabeth sends him on a voyage to Spain.

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Plot Keywords:

queen elizabeth i | boat on fire | spanish history | european history | british history | 

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Taglines:

. . . A truly brilliant producer brings you a thrilling tale of love and danger that will live in your memory as long as there is romance in your heart !

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Genres:

Adventure | History | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eld över England

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System Noiseless Wide Range Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this movie, Vivien Leigh played "Cynthia", a servant of Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson). In Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), Flora Robson played Ftatateeta, a servant of Queen Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh).

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Goofs

Cynthia is admonished by the Queen when she tries to fit the Queen's foot into the wrong shoe. Shoes made for the left foot and the right foot were not introduced in England until the 1860's.

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Quotes

Spanish Ambassador: If your majesty will not hear words, we must come to cannon and see if you will hear them.
Queen Elizabeth I of England: If you use threats of that kind, I will chase you out of my kingdom.
Spanish Ambassador: But, your grace. You MUST listen.
Queen Elizabeth I of England: Must? Little man, little man, must is NOT a word to use to princes. Our council shall confer with you. Meanwhile, go home and be quiet!

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: IN 1587 SPAIN POWERFUL IN THE OLD WORLD MASTER IN THE NEW

ITS KING PHILIP RULES BY FORCE AND FEAR

BUT SPANISH TYRANNY IS CHALLENGED BY THE FREE PEOPLE OF A LITTLE ISLAND

ENGLAND

EVERYWHERE ENGLISH TRADERS APPEAR ENGLISH SEAMEN THREATEN SPANISH SUPREMACY

A WOMAN GUIDES AND INSPIRES THEM ELIZABETH THE QUEEN.

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Connections

Featured in In Search of Shakespeare (2004)

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Soundtracks

O Magnum Mysterium
(uncredited)
Composed by Tomás Luis de Victoria
Sung by unseen chorus at the Spanish court

User Reviews

The Fate of the Armada

The facts:- Charles Howard, later Earl of Nottingham, commanded the British Fleet with Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins as secondary command. When the Armada was sighted, beacons were lit, as in the movie. (It was demonstrated at the pre-wedding party for Prince Charles prior to his marriage to Diana, that it was possible to get a signal from Hampstead Heath, London, to Lands End, the furthest point west, within some extraordinarily short time by this method. If my memory serves me, the time was something like 7 minutes to Lands's End and about 40 minutes to the outer Hebrides. This is why Drake was able to famously claim that he had time ti finish a game of bowls before he thrashed the Spaniard.)

The Brits met the Armada at Plymouth and fought them in the Channel to Calais, where the Spanish expected more ships to join them from the Netherlands which was in Spanish hands at the time. The battle in the Channel lasted about a week, with the smaller and much more maneuverable English vessels whipping in close to do damage, but out- numbered by the much larger vessels.

The Armada anchored at Calais and waited. It was there that the British sent in the small fire ships which, assisted by a rising wind, created havoc among the anchored vessels. When many of the ships destroyed, the remainder could not sail westward out of the Channel to return to Spain, because of the winds. They were forced to sail northwards up the east coast of England and around Scotland, where they ran into foul weather. The weather worsened as they sailed south and many of the remaining vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast.