Warner Brothers produced a series of splendid spectacles, designed to add prestige to the studio name. Tonight we present--in a beautiful, restored color print--a lavish dramatization of the love affair between Queen Elizabeth of England and Lord Essex, a love rocked by pride, jealousy and ambition. Unable to separate their "private lives" from their public lives, the power dynamics of their love affair were echoed in their struggle for the rule of England. Director Michael Curtiz minimizes action to focus on the psychological and emotional interactions between the Queen and Lord.
According to rumors of the time, Bette Davis and Errol Flynn's on-screen arguments were matched by off-screen ones. Reigning queen of Warner Brothers, Davis didn't feel Flynn was capable of the part. However, she was clearly capable of hers, and as a reviewer remarked on the film's release, she was able "to throw her entire weight into the film...to add fire to scenes she knew were beginning to smoulder."