"Mary of Scotland" is a historical bio-pic of the ill-fated Mary Stuart, commonly referred to as 'Mary Queen of Scots', who reigned over Scotland from 1542 to 1567 before her arrest and eventual execution for treason against Elizabeth I, Queen of England. The movie shows Mary and her 3rd husband, the Earl of Bothwell (Frederic March) in a sympathetic light, portraying them as star-crossed lovers caught up in the times. The movie implies that Mary was set up and betrayed by a paranoid Elizabeth and condemned based on trumped up charges supported by false evidence. The story is much more complex and the central characters likely not as innocent and noble as the movie suggests (Bothwell is suspected in being complicit in the murder of Mary's 2nd husband and Mary's role in the Babington Plot suggests that she was involved in a plan to assassinate Elizabeth). As far as historical films go, the movie is not particularly extravagant – most of the castles shown are obviously just paintings and much of the action is limited to courtyards and rooms. The director, John Ford is clearly more comfortable shooting westerns in the open expanses of Monument Valley than making historical romances in the confines of a set – many of the shots look very 'stagy' and there is an excess of 'shadow shots', sometimes effective but usually just distracting. Hepburn does not make a very convincing Mary and the dramatic shots of her chin quivering with bottled up emotion get old pretty fast. IMO, "Mary of Scotland" is neither nuanced enough to be 'educational' nor exciting enough to be 'entertaining'.
Review of Mary of Scotland
