I actually enjoyed this movie quite a big. The film is well acted and is a mixture of romance, history and politics. Lawerence Oliver and Leight are both superb in their roles and there's genuine chemistry between them. I also really liked the performance of Flora Robson as an older Queen Elizabeth I. The queen we have here manages to be both iron willed and lofty, yet also clear headed and commanding great authority. Her mounting her horse and rallying her army was perhaps one of my favourite moments in the film. Whenever you're told old films didn't have strong female characters you can refer them to this movie. The film was made in 1937 when a new threat of war in Europe was loaming and I'm sure that fact wouldn't have been lost on this audience. The film though shows the Queen also acutely aware of all those who will have suffered while others celebrate victory. England in this film is portrayed as an underdog, lacking Spain's gold and oversea territory. The plot is quite complex with lots of intrigue, mistrust and risk. I also liked the costumes in this film quite a bit. I would say though they could have done more to differentiate between the Spanish court setting and the English one.
Review of Fire Over England
