Mary returns to Scotland to claim her throne, much to the concern of Elizabeth I. A ponderous prestige production from RKO in which conversations take the form of a sequence of speeches. Katharine Hepburn's initially softer face grows tougher as the movie progresses, perhaps as a result of biting back the laughter each time her co-star Fredric March attempts a Scottish accent. John Carradine sings as he plays the lute, and Freddie - whose exits and entrances always seem to be accompanied by a dragoon of bagpipe players - warms his sporran in front of the fire. It's handsomely mounted, and Hepburn delivers a passionate performance, but it's deathly dull.
Review of Mary of Scotland
