Saturday Night Cinema: Fire Over England (1937)

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Our Saturday Night Cinema classic is Fire Over England (aka Gloriana) is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh’s performance in the film helped to convince David O. Selznick to cast her as Scarlett O’Hara in his production of Gone with the Wind. The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I focusing on England’s victory over the Spanish Armada.

The dazzlingly-handsome Laurence Olivier plays a British naval officer who offers his services to Queen Elizabeth after his father is executed by the Spaniards.

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh look gorgeous but it’s Flora Robson as Queen Elizabeth who steals the show

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In 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed against Elizabeth I’s England.

https://youtu.be/u5nSSqL6ovc

“There’ll always be an England” Indeed, it just might be a sharia state.

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Review: ‘Fire Over England’

Variety, December 31, 1936:

This is a handsomely mounted and forcefully dramatic glorification of Queen Bess. It holds a succession of brilliantly played scenes, a wealth of choice diction, pointed excerpts from English history and a series of impressive tableaux.

It projects Flora Robson in a conception of the British regent which holds the imagination. Her keen aptitude in dovetailing the strong and frail sides of Elizabeth’s nature makes a solid keystone for the production.

The Guardian (2013):

International relations

Fire Over England, Flora Robson, Leslie Banks Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

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

Fire Over England
Fire Over England, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

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

Fire over England film still
Fire over England film still

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

Fire Over England
Fire Over England Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

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.

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Suresh
Suresh
6 years ago

Present day UK is on jihadi fire that is burning all over but the so called “leaders” are helping to stoke the fire and jailing , harassing those who want to point out the fire !

Infidels do not even have right to protest against crimes committed by Muslims . If they dare try it, they get harassed, jailed or killed http://bit.ly/2r6F3cp

Trump can't ban islam
Trump can't ban islam
6 years ago
Reply to  Suresh

the evil and disgusting spanish expelled the muslims from europe, but thankfully the uk, france and usa defeated the spanish and now muslims can freely move wherever the world they want. good movie

Judyebooth
Judyebooth
6 years ago

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guest
guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Suresh

‘harassed, jailed or killed’ or put on a psychiatric ward and released six hours later.

Voytek Gagalka
Voytek Gagalka
6 years ago

Year 1588: the Spanish Armada sailed against England.
Year 2017: invasion army of 23000 Mohammedans (according to the recent MI5 report) are already on British shore.
Fire over England. Will they be lucky to survive again?

Suresh
Suresh
6 years ago
Reply to  Voytek Gagalka

Not likely . The “leaders” are not fighting the invaders but welcoming them !

Dravaa
Dravaa
6 years ago

I love these English historical dramas!

AlgorithmicAnalystD
AlgorithmicAnalyst
6 years ago

The English were amazing people back then.

The Spanish were better than they get credit for, the main flaw in their plan was that their ships couldn’t enter shallow water near the Dutch coast, so they weren’t able to link up with their army there, as the Dutch had ships perfectly suited to those shallow water conditions. The Spanish plan was much too complicated and grandiose, a landlubbers idea of what a sea operation entailed.

Millie Mitty
Millie Mitty
6 years ago

I love that you site a good film for a Saturday night. What happened to Saturday Night at the Movies? What happened to all the good movies–the classics–on T.V? If there’s a patriotic one or one that speaks to today’s troubles it’s either missing from the airwaves or on at 6 a.m. or 1 a.m. Love someone to look into who owns/schedules rules the Movie Classics airwaves. And if you site movies; can you please submit where they can be viewed (besides on Youtube!) We have Netflix which has absolutely no Classics. We can’t afford Showtime etc. Turner Classics does a fair job but ONE CHANNEL? Sad. I’m way into conspiracy theories and wonder if there isn’t a Socialist thread philosophy running through the Classics Libraries. Sitting on patriotic films on patriotic holidays etc.

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