Review of Elizabeth: The Golden Edition

Introduction

According to Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, Elizabeth I may have had the body of a weak and feeble woman, but she had "the stomach of a concrete elephant". The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth reigned for over 44 years and oversaw one of the greatest periods in English history: Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh had fun in their boats, travelling widely and finding a root vegetable, whilst William Shakespeare wrote some poems and tried his hand at theatre.

`Elizabeth` encompasses the early part of her reign, from being jailed under the orders of her half-sister `Bloody Mary`, to her coronation and then to the beginning of `The Golden Age`. Lady Elizabeth is crowned and is courted by suitors, whose attention she quite enjoys, before realising that she must choose her counsellors and her lovers extremely carefully. As the plots against her become more serious, even life threatening, she becomes more introverted and even masculine when she becomes `The Virgin Queen`. With an all-star cast including Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough and Sir John Gielgud, `Elizabeth` is a lush costume drama which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one for Best Makeup.

It`s a shame that the disc begins with the excruciatingly irritating "You wouldn`t steal a..." anti-piracy warning, which have no place on legitimate DVDs and are guaranteed NOT to be on a pirate copy.

Video

The anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer is superb, with excellent colour definition and contrast. Director Shekhar Kapur estimates that over half his budget was spent on costumes and it shows with terrific wardrobes and period costumes, especially for Elizabeth.

Audio

There are Dolby Digital 5.1 English and French soundtracks available. I only listened to the English one and it is terrific, with a wonderful soundstage, a superb score by David Hirschfelder and clear dialogue throughout.

There are subtitles in 9 languages: French, Dutch, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Russian and English (HoH).

Features

Confirming my suspicions that this is a cynical marketing ploy to capitalise on the release of `Elizabeth: The Golden Age`, the `Sneak Peek` is a brief look at the sequel, but is largely a montage of the theatrical trailers and TV spots.

The Making of `Elizabeth` is a decent, but not stellar, 25-minute behind the scenes look at the film, containing interviews with most of the principal cast and crew. This is the same feature as was included on the previous release.

The `Feature Commentary With Director Shekhar Kapur` is an interesting and informative track, with Shekhar delivering it well. There is plenty of information about the making of the film and his view on Elizabeth I and whether they took many liberties with events.

The commentary has the same subtitle options as the feature film, which I`m sure will be welcomed by international audiences.

There is also the Theatrical Trailer and a Photo Gallery, which has to be manually navigated. These were also available on the previous release.

Conclusion

`Elizabeth` is a film that completely passed me by. I didn`t see it at the cinema, didn`t buy or rent the DVD and never came across it on TV. However, the trailers at the cinema for `Elizabeth: The Golden Age` piqued my interest, so I thought I`d give `Elizabeth` a look prior to the theatrical release of its sequel.

I`ve always associated Queen Elizabeth I with Miranda Richardson`s `Queenie` character in `Blackadder II` - no doubt a gross caricature and historically inaccurate portrayal. I noted, whilst watching this, that the character arc of Elizabeth bares a striking similarity to that of Michael Corleone in `The Godfather` and was quite amused when Shekhar Kapur admitted to `stealing` the seizing of ultimate power sequence from Francis Ford Coppola`s masterpiece. The two characters are very similar: they reluctantly assume the role of leader, but believe it was something they were born to do; both have powerful and successful fathers whose leadership they will be measured against and they both ruthlessly despatch those enemies, both external and closer to home, who plot against them, firmly establishing their authority.

Looking back, it`s incredible to think what a gamble they took on the then largely unknown Cate Blanchett, who is superb in the title role. Her body language and voice change as the playful Lady Elizabeth transforms from the naïve and flirtatious young woman into the all-powerful `Virgin Queen` who will "have no master". As the Earl of Norfolk, an ambitious and important member of the Royal Court, Christopher Ecclestone was perhaps an unlikely casting choice, but one that pays off as he has real screen presence and menace, as does Geoffrey Rush playing Sir Francis Walsingham. In the smaller roles, Fanny Ardent is impressive, as are Richard Attenborough, Joseph Fiennes, Vincent Cassel and, surprisingly, the footballer Eric Cantona doesn`t disgrace himself either.

The film was previously released on DVD in 1999, and I can`t help feeling that this `Golden Edition` was released to coincide with the theatrical release of `Elizabeth: The Golden Age`, its sequel. It`s an obvious cash-in, but a disc worthy of attention nonetheless.