Das Herz Der Königin
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''Das Herz der Königin'' (''The Heart of the Queen'') is a 1940 German
historical film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...
, making selective use of the life story of
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...
, and her execution by
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
for anti-English and pro-Scottish propaganda, in the context of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
going on at the time. It was shot at the
Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial bac ...
in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director
Walter Haag Walter Haag (1898–1978) was a German art director. He worked on more than sixty films during his career including the 1940 historical melodrama ''The Heart of a Queen''.Hull p.179-80 Selected filmography * ''The Private Life of Louis XIV'' (19 ...
.


Plot

The film starts with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, held prisoner in
Fotheringhay Castle Fotheringhay Castle, also known as ''Fotheringay Castle'', was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England (). It was probably founde ...
, awaiting the final judgment in her case, which is expected within a few hours. Soon she finds out that the Royal Court has sentenced her, with the assent of
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
, to be executed on the scaffold on the following day. She breaks down and remembers the events leading to her now imminent death. The bulk of the film consists of this flashback. The young Mary arrives from France to Scotland, as the lawful queen of Scots, only to encounter a strong opposition. Her half-brother, Jacob Stuart, who had ruled the country until then, asserts that a woman is incapable of ruling the "rough" and "male" land of Scotland and that she should have remained in "feminine" France. The lords, headed by Lord Bothwell, face Mary Stuart critically. Moreover, immediately upon her arrival, Mary faces an assassination attempt with poisoned wine by Johanna (Jean) Gordon, whose
Clan Gordon Clan Gordon is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the most powerful Scottish clans. The Gordon lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands. Presently, Gordon is seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Chief of the ...
was at feud with the Stuarts for many years. Members of the Privy Council, whom Mary summons to deal with the first political decisions to be announced, do not show up. The only one present is Jacob Stuart, who tears up the document presented for his signature. When the queen is alone again, Lord Bothwell arrives and confesses that he had fallen in love with her. Mary Stuart orders him arrested for insulting the queen, even though she is impressed by his demeanor. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth I, angered that with a lawful Catholic queen taking over Scotland will limit her influence there and threaten her right to the throne in England, sends to Scotland her confidant Henry Darnley, who is both an English peer and a Scottish lord, to spy for her and to raise the population against Mary Stuart. Nevertheless, Darnley falls in love with Queen Mary and leads her to Lord Bothwell's castle, where the Scottish lords meet secretly to plot the queen's deposition. Mary ventures alone into the meeting and becomes imprisoned. She is released the next day, but only after having been made to swear an oath that she would marry a Scot. Mary Stuart's choice falls on Lord Bothwell, whom she believes to be still in captivity. It turns out, however, that he had fled with Jean Gordon and has married her. The two of them raise an army with the aim of overthrowing Mary. Jean wants revenge on the queen and the Stuarts, and Lord Bothwell wants power. The queen is constrained to marry Lord Darnley, but becomes involved with the Italian singer David Riccio. Eventually, she gives birth to a boy child, James, the future
King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 â€“ 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
. A troupe of itinerant actors stages a play hinting broadly that Riccio is the queen's lover and might be the father of her child. Lord Darnley feels mocked and indignant and therefore authorizes a plot in which Riccio is assassinated. At this time Lord Bothwells' army appears, which the queen allows to enter Lord Bothwell's castle and temporarily take over power in the land "for the queen's own protection". However, Lord Darnley has fallen ill with smallpox. On the advice of Lord Bothwell, now her lover, Mary has her ill husband brought to Edinburgh, where he dies in an explosion at his home. Now Queen Elizabeth sends an army to Scotland to release Mary Stuart from the power of Bothwell and to offer to her refuge in England, which is actually a trap meant to imprison Mary and keep her away from the throne of Scotland. Meanwhile, Mary Stuart had married Lord Bothwell, who had separated from Jean Gordon. The wedding is interrupted when the English army appears under the guidance of Jacob Stuart, the queen's half-brother, who presents secret love letters which Mary Stuart had sent to Bothwell while still married to her previous husband. Olivier, the queen's page, is killed while attempting to hide the letters. Lord Bothwell is faced with the choice of standing by Mary Stuart and dying or denying her. He turns away from her, but the treacherous Jacob Stuart still sentences him to death by dragging (in actual history he fled to Denmark where the king treated him cruelly and where he eventually died in prison; all of which is not mentioned in the film). When Jacob Stuart takes her child James to protect him from Queen Elizabeth, Mary Stuart accepts the offer of the English queen and goes into exile in England, which sets up her path to the scaffold. The frame story from the beginning resumes. Mary makes peace with dying and pledges her undying devotion to her ladies-in-waiting, the people of Scotland, and the many men she loved and lost. The next morning Mary Stuart, in a stunning bejeweled red gown, is led to the scaffold and kneels down in prayer as she awaits the sharp hatchet to fall.


Cast

The cast included *
Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned Universum Film AG (UFA). Although no exact record ...
:
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...
* Walther Suessenguth: Lord Jacob Stuart (
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for hi ...
) *
Willy Birgel Willy Birgel (19 September 1891 – 29 December 1973), born Wilhelm Maria Birgel, was a German theatre and film actor. Career Birgel began his acting career before World War I on the stage in his native city of Cologne, and came to movies ra ...
: Lord Bothwell (
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell ( â€“ 14 April 1578), better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband ...
) * Maria Koppenhöfer:
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
*
Lotte Koch Lotte Koch (9 March 1913 – 26 May 2013) was a Belgian-born German film actress. She emerged as a star during the Nazi era, appearing in the 1944 drama '' The Black Robe''. Following the Second World War she appeared in several rubble films inc ...
: Johanna Gordon (
Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...
) *
Axel von Ambesser Axel Eugen Alexander von Oesterreich (22 June 1910 – 6 September 1988), better known as Axel von Ambesser, was a German playwright, actor and film director. Ambesser's father was Alexander Constantin von Oesterreich. Ambesser was born in Hamb ...
: Henry Darnley (
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567), was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottis ...
) * Enrico Benfer:
David Riccio David Rizzio ( ; it, Davide Rizzio ; – 9 March 1566) or Riccio ( , ) was an Italian courtier, born in Pancalieri close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts di San Paolo e Solbrito ...
*
Will Quadflieg Friedrich Wilhelm "Will" Quadflieg (; 15 September 1914 – 27 November 2003) was a German actor from Oberhausen. He was the father of actor Christian Quadflieg. He is considered one of Germany's best post-war actors. One of his most widely rec ...
: Page Olivier *
Hubert von Meyerinck Hubert "Hubsi" von Meyerinck (23 August 1896 – 13 May 1971) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1970. Biography Meyerinck was born in Potsdam, Brandenburg, the son of Friedrich von Meyerinck (1858†...
: Sir John *
Erich Ponto Erich Johannes Bruno Ponto (14 December 1884 – 14 February 1957) was a German film and stage actor. Career Erich Ponto was born in Lübeck as the son of a merchant. After his family had moved to Hamburg- Eimsbüttel, he attended the gymnasium ...
: Itinerant actor *
Ursula Herking Ursula Herking (28 January 1912 – 17 November 1974) was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1933 and 1972. She was born in Dessau, Germany and died in Munich, West Germany. Selected filmography * ''Susanne ...
: Member of the itinerant actors' troupe * Hans Hessling: Nelson, Henry Darnley's Companion *
Margot Hielscher Margot Hielscher (29 September 1919 – 20 August 2017) was a German singer and film actress. She appeared in over fifty films between and 1939 and 1994. Hielscher was born in Berlin. In 1957, she was chosen to represent Germany at the Eurovis ...
: One of the
Four Marys "Mary Hamilton", or "The Fower Maries" ("The Four Marys"), is a common name for a well-known sixteenth-century ballad from Scotland based on an apparently fictional incident about a lady-in-waiting to a Queen of Scotland. It is Child Ballad 173 ...
*
Herbert Hübner Herbert Hübner (6 February 1889 – 27 January 1972) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1921 and 1966. He was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) and died in Munich, Germany. Selected fil ...
: Lord Arran (
James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...
) *
Rudolf Klein-Rogge Friedrich Rudolf Klein (24 November 1885 – 29 May 1955), better known as Rudolf Klein-Rogge, was a German film actor, best known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a mainstay in director Fritz Lang's ...
: Ruthven, General of the Scottish Palace Guard *
Eduard von Winterstein Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim (1 August 1871 – 22 July 1961), known as Eduard von Winterstein, was an Austrian-German film actor who appeared in over one hundred fifty German films during the silent and sound eras. He was ...
: an English General *
Josef Sieber Josef Sieber (28 April 1900 – 3 December 1962) was a German film actor. Selected filmography * ''Pappi'' (1934) * ''Punks Arrives from America'' (1935) * ''Joan of Arc'' (1935) * ''The Gypsy Baron'' (1935) * ''The Last Four on Santa Cruz'' (193 ...
: Paris, a Scottish prison guard *
Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur (6 March 1886 – 13 May 1960) was a German film actor. Early life Stahl-Nachbaur was born in Munich, Germany and died at age 74 in Berlin. Selected filmography * ''Das Geschlecht der Schelme. 1. Teil'' (1917) * ''Das ...
: John Knox *
Emil Heß Emil Heß (3 February 1889, in Wald, Zurich – 2 March 1945, in Zurich) was a Swiss actor on stage and screen. Personal life Heß married Elizabeth Ellinghaus by whom he had three sons Wolfgang, Urs and Migg. Urs Hess (1940) and Migg Hess ( ...
: Lord Douglas


The heart as a theme

The theme of the heart's emotions is repeated throughout the whole film. The cold Elizabeth I who had edged any love out of her own life is contrasted with the extremely emotional Mary Stuart, whose life is filled (as presented in the film) by love. When Queen Elizabeth learns of the birth of the Scottish heir to the throne gets, she exclaims: "I rule and she loves!". One of the lofty expressions Mary says in the film: "Kings win in life - hearts, in eternity". Mary Stuart appears guided exclusively by emotions. She says: "My heart has guided me; it is the only thing that leads me." The biggest mistake of her life, the marriage with Lord Darnley, shows the exception: "It is about the crown, not about your heart" Darnley says in the film. Nevertheless, it is noted that their common son, the future King James I would be a good ruler but, as one of the courtiers says to Queen Mary, he will "have a big heart".


Production

"Das Herz der Königin" was filmed from November 1939 to March 1940 in the
Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter ('' Stadtteil'') of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Pala ...
film studio. On 29 October 1940 the film censorship board classified the film as "unsuitable for minors" but otherwise "valuable" both "artistically" and "culturally". The premiere took place on 1 November 1940 in the München Ufa-Palace ("Luitpold-Theater") The film is punctuated by numerous songs, mostly sung by Zarah Leander: * "A black stone, a white stone" (Zarah Leander) * "Where is your heart" (Zarah Leander) * "Slumber song" (Zarah Leander) * "Once a foreign guest comes to you" (Zarah Leander, Friedrich Benfer) * "If only you do not think of it, nothing will hurt you" (Erich Ponto) The text was written by Harald Braun, the music by Theo Mackeben. *In 1941 Harald Braun published a novelization, also titled ''Das Herz der Königin''.


Criticism

''Das Herz der Königin'' became a failure in its time and today counts as one of the weakest of Zarah Leander's films. ''The International Film Encyclopedia'' criticized the film as a work from the Nazi era with a strong anti-British bias. According to German scholar Theodor Riegler, "the depiction of the cold ruler Elizabeth I was aimed at presenting the early history of ritishstriving for world domination, which would have consequences 'for all parts of the Earth during centuries up to the present' “, thus implicitly justifying Germany's war with Britain at the time." Moreover, critics noted that "The extreme miscasting of Zarah Leander in the leading role added to the film's kitsch an unintended comic element", that the "film is superficial and pseudo-historical" and that in "her stiff splendid evening gowns as Mary Stuart, Leander could hardly move".Yvonne Tiedt: "Es leuchten die Sterne. Die große Zeit des deutschen Films". Lingen, Bergisch Gladbach 1995, P. 115


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herz der Konigin 1940 films 1940s historical films Films of Nazi Germany German biographical films German historical films Films about Elizabeth I Films about Mary, Queen of Scots Cultural depictions of James VI and I Films set in Northamptonshire Films set in Scotland Films set in Tudor England Nazi propaganda films 1940s biographical films German black-and-white films UFA GmbH films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios 1940s German-language films