This week's Flicks in Five celebrates Britain's canon of movie making. If films weren't made in Britain or starring British stars, simply having a British subject — no pun intended — could mean big box office. A perfect example is "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex."
It starred Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, and it was originally titled "Elizabeth the Queen," after the Maxwell Anderson play upon which it's based. But when the studio signed Flynn to the role of Essex, he insisted that his character's name be somewhere in the title.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold did the music celebrating Queen Elizabeth I. Here's the overture to "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" — a great success for Warner Bros. and for Korngold.
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