THE SWORD & THE ROSE

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: brief sensuality

Rated:

Disney made a lot of films during the 1950's based loosely on historical events. One of their most popular was The Sword & the Rose, adapted from a work of fiction by Charles Major. The result is an entertaining if historically inaccurate love story between Mary Tudor, the younger sister of King Henry VIII, and Charles Brandon, who she eventually married without permission.

Because of her beauty, and the legendary connections of her family, the hand of Princess Mary (Glynis Johns) is highly prized in marriage by suitors throughout Europe. It is believed that the best possible match would be to Louis XII of France (Jean Mercure), and it is to this end that her brother King Henry VIII (James Robertson Justice) attempts to persuade her. But Mary has no desire to marry a Frenchman or to leave the English court, particularly when her romantic attentions are taken away by the spirited Charles Brandon (Richard Todd), a guard in the king's household. His often straightforward mannerisms and comments have shocked most of the ladies in attendance, but Mary finds him suitably fascinating despite the danger a love affair with him will cause. The one individual fully aware of their budding relationship is her trusted servant, but that does not prevent the Duke of Buckingham (Michael Gough) from suspecting them.

When Henry makes it adamantly clear that she will marry Louis whether she likes it or not, Mary attempts to make a dramatic escape with Brandon to the new world, but they are apprehended and returned to her infuriated brother, who sentences her lover to the Tower. Most of her faith is placed in the Duke of Buckingham to save them both, but little does she realize that he has ambitions of his own. The two hour film is understandably dated, but the costuming is absolutely gorgeous and more than once I gasped out loud at the ornate design of Mary's gowns and headdresses. The acting is rather good in some respects and tolerable in others -- there is not a bad actor among the lot, but Todd is not given much to work with when it comes to Brandon, and he remains rather one-dimensional. Henry is a good deal more charitable than he ever was in real life, making for a likable if stern monarch, and his wife Katherine (Rosalie Crutchley) exhibits none of the compassion and kindness the actual woman was known for.

It is however Mary that carries off the production, for she is saucy of tongue and equally amusing, able to outwit just about anyone that crosses her. One of the best sequences in the film is when she manages to put off her new husband sharing her marital bed for hours. (He never does come to her.) Some of the situations are absurd, but it does have a fantastic climax by the sea in which swordplay is present, as well as a daring chase across the countryside. There are subtle allusions made to the fact that Louis desires to bed his wife, but most of them would go over the heads of children. His son is much more forward in his remarks, but still they never cross a line of inappropriateness and remain merely innocent innuendos. The only thing worthy of note is the fact that Henry bursts in on his sister and finds her undressed. She bolts up from the bed with a sheet wrapped around her, and the flustered men of the court hasten back into the corridor. 

For history, this is nowhere near the truth and in some respects I almost feel that the fictionalized element was not necessary in order to make a good story: the true tale of Mary and Charles Brandon is just as interesting and full of treachery as anything written by a novelist. Mary's marriage to Louis, her secret marriage to Brandon following it, and their rejection from court while Henry determined whether or not the action warranted an accusation of treason, would have been compelling. Even so, this film does manage to hit just enough right historical notes that you can somewhat forget the lapses in logic in between.