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In
1587, England is in danger of being overwhelmed by powerful Spain, with its
ruthless inquisition and mighty Armada. The English queen, Elizabeth,
who is much loved by her loyal subjects, is forced to walk a dangerous
diplomatic line between maintaining friendship with King Philip of Spain and
supporting English seamen such as Sir Francis Drake, who plunder Spanish
ships. Elizabeth's chief advisors are the lord treasurer, Burleigh,
and her longtime admirer, the Earl of Leicester. Burleigh's beautiful
but featherbrained granddaughter Cynthia is one of Elizabeth's
ladies-in-waiting, and the aging queen is plagued with jealousy of the
girl's attractiveness and vitality.
While Elizabeth is dealing with the Spanish ambassador in her
palace, a mighty sea battle is occurring between the Spanish, led by Don
Miguel, and the English, led by Sir Richard Ingolby. Miguel and
Richard are old friends and, when the English are captured, Miguel arranges
for Richard's son Michael to escape. Michael washes ashore on Miguel's
estate, and his wounds are tended to by Miguel's daughter Elena, who quickly
becomes enamored of the handsome Englishman.
As the months pass, Michael recovers and laments being apart
from Cynthia, his sweetheart, but is nonetheless impressed by Elena's
charms. One day, the idyll ends when Miguel brings Michael the sad
news that Richard has been executed as a heretic. The grieving Michael
denounces his rescuers and flees to England in a small fishing boat.
When he is granted an audience with Elizabeth, he urges her
to fight the Spanish menace by whatever means necessary and swears undying
loyalty to her. Elizabeth is flattered by the young man's fervent
devotion and later has an opportunity to take advantage of his offer of
service when Hillary Vane, an Englishman spying for Spain, is killed before
the names of his English co-conspirators can be uncovered. Michael,
disguised as Vane, goes to Philip's court to get the letters that will set
into motion a plan to assassinate Elizabeth.
_NRFPT_01_small.jpg) At the palace Michael meets Elena, who is now married to Don
Pedro, the palace governor. Elena keeps Michael's identity a secret as
long as she can, but finally must tell her husband out of loyalty to him.
When Philip sees through Michael's disguise and orders his arrest, Pedro
helps him escape so that it will not be discovered that his wife aided a
heretic.
While Michael is returning home, the Spanish Armada sails
against England and Elizabeth joins her army in Tilbury. Michael meets
her there and reveals the names of the traitors. Elizabeth knights
Michael and then confronts the traitors, who are overwhelmed with shame and
agree to go with Michael on a dangerous mission to stop the Armada.
The mission is successful as Michael and his men use their small boats to
set the Armada aflame, and they all return safely. Elizabeth allows
Michael and Cynthia to be wed and, after sadly ordering all mirrors to be
removed from her rooms, greets her adoring subjects.
Notes
A news item in HR notes that the
film was originally titled Gloriana and was to star
Conrad Veidt. According to HR , the Hays Office requested
that a scene in which
Laurence Olivier yells "Fire, Fire," be deleted for fear audiences would
take alarm and run out of the theater. Flora Robson also played Queen
Elizabeth in the 1940 Warner Bros. film
The Sea
Hawk. The film was awarded the 1937 Cinema
Medal of Honor from the League of Nations Committee on Motion Pictures.
According to the MPH review, this was the first time a British film
had its premiere in Los Angeles. Modern sources credit Paul Barralet
as photographer and include Howard Douglas (Lord Amberley) in the
cast. Fire Over England was the first of three films Olivier
and
Vivien Leigh starred in together. The couple, who had met a few
months before production began, were married in 1940. |
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