Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)

After seeing the most recent version of Mary Queen of Scots, I thought it was time to see the first version, released back in 1971 and starring Vanessa Redgrave as Mary and Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth. It is a better film, but just as historically inaccurate. It is less a feminist manifesto as the current film, and more a history lesson, while getting some facts wrong.

This film, written by John Hale and directed by Charles Jarrot, expands the story. It includes Mary's time as Queen of France (her husband dies of "brain fever") and has much more on the plot to kill Elizabeth that got her executed (usually called the "Babbington Plot"). It makes her half-brother, the Earl of Moray (played with creepy intensity by Patrick McGoohan) an out and out villain, and oddly makes Bothwell, who in reality kidnapped her into marriage, into her knight in shining armor.

Hale's script makes things easier to follow, with some clumsy but well needed exposition (Mary asks, "Who is that man?" and is told "John Knox, the head of our church." In the latest version I didn't know who he was until half the film was over). It also doubles down on Mary and Elizabeth meeting each other, as here they meet twice, including a last time when Elizabeth says she will let Mary live if she begs her forgiveness.

Overall, it is a better directed film with sharper characterizations. Timothy Dalton plays Lord Darnley as one of the biggest cowards and simpletons in history, to wonderful effect, and Jackson, who had already played Elizabeth in a BBC series Elizabeth R, makes the queen shrewder and less reliant on her counsel (William Cecil is played by Trevor Howard) than Margot Robbie. The film also makes no mistake that she was involved with Sir Robert Dudley, her horse master.

Redgrave plays Mary as the stubborn, courageous woman that she must have been, and received an Oscar nomination. She manages to capture both Mary's convictions and her youth, which made her naive in some respects. The film also received nominations for art direction, costumes, and music score.

I think we can safely close the book on this story, except for a documentary, where the entire story is told truthfully.