Rating: PG-13
Length: 132 minutes

Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0

English, French

This film follows Mary, Queen of Scotland, from the time of her husband's death (The King of France) through the turmoil and political intrigue of her reign in Scotland and her political struggles with her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.

The strength of this film falls on the shoulders of it's five leading actors and the strength of their performances; Vanessa Redgrave as the lovely yet sometimes misguided Mary, Glenda Jackson as the powerful and manipulating Queen Elizabeth, Patrick McGoohan as the conniving half-brother of Mary that wants to rule Scotland himself, Timothy Dalton as the power-hungry yet child-like man that's wants to be king and Nigel Davenport as the powerful/loyal/boyfriend Earl of Bothwell. The picture was also quite good for a movie rapidly approaching forty years in age.

The movie seemed to run longer than its two hour runtime; there are a few dead spots in the plot. But the one thing that annoyed me most was having to back up the disc to replay a scene so I could turn up the volume to hear what they're saying. Warning, if you're running everything through a receiver you'll want to make sure you turn the volume down after watching this dvd before flipping it back over to your TV.

• Music Only Track with Commentary
• Promotional Featurette
• Sneak Peek of Elizabeth: The Golden Age

This is a fun movie for anyone interested in the history of England and enjoy political maneuvering/intrigue, this is certainly worth your time. The biggest complaint most people have is that there is no proof that the two queens ever met; all I can say is there is no proof that they didn't. Movies filmed about these times are nothing more than speculation (conversations, actions) filling in the blanks of historical accuracies (major events and characters).

Charles Jarrott   [Anne of the Thousand Days]

Brian Coburn - Huntly

Timothy Dalton - Lord Henry Darnley

[Cleopatra (1999), Flash Gordon, Licence To Kill, The Lion in Winter, The Living Daylights]

Nigel Davenport - James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell

Tom Fleming - Father Ballard

Beth Harris - Mary Seton

Ian Holm - David Rizzio

[The Aviator, The Day After Tomorrow, The Fifth Element, From Hell, Garden State, LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring/Return of the King, Lord of War]

Trevor Howard - Sir William Cecil

[Battle of Britain, Superman, Von Ryan's Express]

Glenda Jackson - Queen Elizabeth I

Katherine Kath - Catherine de Medici

Andrew Keir - Ruthven

[Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire]

Bruce Purchase - Morton

Vanessa Redgrave - Mary, Queen of Scots

[Deep Impact, Mission Impossible, Murder on the Orient Express]

Daniel Massey - Robert Dudley

Patrick McGoohan - James Stuart

[Braveheart, Ice Station Zebra]

Frances White - Mary Fleming