The Queen's Guards
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''The Queen's Guards'' is a 1961 British military drama film directed by
Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company Powell and Pressburger, The Archers, they together wrote, produced ...
from a script by Simon Harcourt-Smith and
Roger Milner Roger Lloyd Milner (2 April 1925–22 February 2014) was a British actor, author and dramatist who is probably best remembered today for appearing in two of the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas dramas in the 1970s. His "outrageous comedy" '' ...
. It stars Daniel Massey,
Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor known for his commanding stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He r ...
,
Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was an English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. Early life Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard ...
, and
Ursula Jeans Ursula Jean McMinn (5 May 1906 – 21 April 1973), better known as Ursula Jeans, was an English film, stage, and television actress. Biography Jeans was born in Shimla, Simla, British Raj, British India, to English parents. She was brought up ...
. Principal photography on ''The Queen's Guards'' began several months after the release of Powell's ''
Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...
'', the outcry over which eventually ensured that ''The Queen's Guards'' would be Powell's last feature film directed in Britain. Powell later called the film "the most inept piece of filmmaking that I have ever produced or directed. I didn't write the story (weak) or the screenplay (abysmal) but I take all the flak."


Plot

The film tells the story of John Fellowes, an officer in the
Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...
as he prepares for the
Trooping the Colour Trooping the Colour is a ceremonial event performed every year on Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of Household Division, to celebrate the King's Official Birthday, official birthday of the British sovereign, though t ...
ceremony on 11 June 1960. John is the son of retired guardsman Capt. Fellowes and Mrs. Fellowes. John's elder brother was also a Guards officer, but was killed in action; John feels that he is being forced to follow in his brother's footsteps. The film follows John through his training, where he makes some mistakes in an exercise and is told that it was a mistake like that which got his brother and a lot of his men killed at an oasis. However, he makes friends with Henry Wynne-Walton and Henry is invited home to meet Mr. and Mrs. Fellowes. Mr. Fellowes is quite fanatical about the Guards. The eldest son in the family has been a Guards officer for as long as anyone can remember, and they even live next door to the Guards barracks in London. Capt. Fellowes is disabled: his legs do not work, and he hauls himself around the house by hooking canes into loops on an overhead rail. This system was designed by the elder brother that John is always expected to live up to. His mother thinks that the elder brother is just "missing in action" and will return someday. The father, who knows the brother is actually dead, but appears never to give John a chance. John is dating Ruth (Judith Stott), the daughter of George Dobbie, a haulage contractor. When John goes to see Mr. Dobbie, he tells John that he was fighting in the desert and was let down by a platoon of Guards that were meant to hold a certain position – the platoon that was led by John's brother. Months later, John is in command of a unit of Guardsmen involved in a combat operation in an unnamed desert country. John leads an assault on a fortress held by some rebels. All the time that he is haunted by thoughts about how his brother died, John manages to defend against a counter-attack, until Henry arrives with his men in their armoured scout vehicles. The mission is a success. John has managed to do what his elder brother could not. Back in London, all is in readiness for the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Mr. Dobbie overcomes his dislike of the Guards to accompany Ruth to the ceremony. Capt. Fellowes manages to haul himself upstairs to see the ceremony through the window. John is given the honour of commanding the colour party.


Cast

* Daniel Massey as John Fellowes *
Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was an English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. Early life Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard ...
as Henry Wynne-Walton *
Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor known for his commanding stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He r ...
as Capt. Fellowes *
Ursula Jeans Ursula Jean McMinn (5 May 1906 – 21 April 1973), better known as Ursula Jeans, was an English film, stage, and television actress. Biography Jeans was born in Shimla, Simla, British Raj, British India, to English parents. She was brought up ...
as Mrs. Fellowes * Judith Stott as Ruth Dobbie * Elizabeth Shepherd as Susan *
Frank Lawton Frank Lawton Mokeley (30 September 1904 – 10 June 1969) was an English actor. Biography Frank Lawton was born in St Giles, London, on 30 September 1904. His parents were stage players Daisy May Collier and Frank Mokely Lawton. His first ...
as Commander Hewson *
Duncan Lamont Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pres ...
as Wilkes * Peter Myers as Gordon Davidson * Ian Hunter as Mr. George Dobbie *
Jess Conrad Jess Conrad (born Gerald Arthur James; 24 February 1936) is an English stage and screen actor and singer. As a boy he was nicknamed "Jesse" after American outlaw Jesse James; as there was already an actor named "Gerald James" in Actors' Equity Ass ...
as Dankworth


Cast notes

* Raymond Massey was the father of Daniel Massey and
Anna Massey Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Best Actress Award for the role of Edith Hope in the Hotel du Lac (film), 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel ...
, who had one of the main roles in Powell's ''
Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...
''. * This was the only occasion Raymond and Daniel Massey appeared on film together. Powell had worked with Raymond Massey several times before, but it was Daniel Massey's film debut.


Production

Powell says the film was based on the idea of a friend of his, Simon Harcourt-Smith, who was inspired watching the Household Cavalry outside
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
. His basic idea was to encapsulate the story of a British military family with the ceremony of Trooping the Colour, where the climax would be the arrival of the Queen to take the salute. Powell was enthusiastic: "I'm a sucker for stories about the services," he said. He sold the story to
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
and the Queen gave her permission to film the Trooping of the Colour.
Roger Milner Roger Lloyd Milner (2 April 1925–22 February 2014) was a British actor, author and dramatist who is probably best remembered today for appearing in two of the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas dramas in the 1970s. His "outrageous comedy" '' ...
wrote a script. Powell liked Milner, but said he was "more a sketch artist than a full blown dramatist" and "our collaboration was uneasy." He later said the film was "a broken backed feature when it should have been a family saga and an epic of military glory... We shouldn't have tried to compete with AEW Mason." Though released as "A
CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...
Picture" with a CinemaScope credit at the beginning of the film, ''The Queen's Guards'' was filmed in
Technirama __NOTOC__ Technirama is a screen process that has been used by some film production houses as an alternative to CinemaScope. It was first used in 1957 but fell into disuse in the mid-1960s. The process was invented by Technicolor and is an anamor ...
. 35mm Technirama release prints were compatible with CinemaScope release prints. The intention of the film appears to have been to promote the Guards regiment in some way. Powell was given access to the Guards' barracks and to their training areas on
Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...
, and in March 1960 he and several crew members were invited by the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
to accompany the Guards on a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
exercise in Libya. Powell also included many sequences of real guardsmen at the Trooping the Colour ceremony; the colour trooped on the day shown (Saturday 11 June 1960) was that of the 3rd. Bn. Grenadier Guards. However, principal photography on the film only began in the last week of August. The production, especially the plot, has been described as "very scrappy", with details left unexplained. According to the second assistant director Michael Klaw, the script was rewritten constantly during production. Klaw says that although the action scenes were set in Kenya during the
Mau Mau Uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...
, the Guards never actually served in Kenya. Sequences set in Libya were meant to be shot on location, but the studio cut the budget at the last minute, so they had to be filmed in England.


Historical background

When on ceremonial duties outside
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
,
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...
and at
Horse Guards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...
, the Regiments of Guards wear red
dress uniform Full dress uniform, also known as a ceremonial dress uniform or parade dress uniform, is among the most formal wear, formal type of uniform used by military, police, firefighter, fire and other public uniformed services for official parade (mili ...
s and
Bearskin A bearskin is a tall fur cap derived from mitre#Military uniform, mitre caps worn by grenadier units in the 17th and 18th centuries. Initially worn by only grenadiers, bearskins were later used by several other military units in the 19th centur ...
s (not
Busby Busby may refer to: Clothing *Busby (military headdress), a kind of military headdress, made of fur, derived from that traditionally worn by Hussars. Places * Busby, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada *Busby, East Renfrewshire, a village in Scotland * ...
s). Originally the
sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
's own troops, and some of the oldest regiments in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
. They perform most of the ceremonial duties at state occasions, but they are not just "toy soldiers" intended only for public display. They are fighting regiments that also do ceremonial duties. One of the main aims of the film was to show this. There are two mounted regiments of guards, the Life Guards and the
Blues and Royals The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. The Colonel (United Kingdom)#Colonel of the Regiment, Colonel of ...
. There are five regiments of foot, the
Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...
, the
Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...
, the Scots,
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...
and
Irish Guards The Irish Guards (IG) is one of the Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment (1992), Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infant ...
. The mounted regiments can be differentiated by the colour of their uniforms (Life Guards – red, Blues & Royals – blue) and the regiments of foot by the arrangement of their buttons (and their cap badges and collar tabs if you get close enough). Grenadiers have evenly spaced buttons on the front of their tunics, Coldstream have buttons in pairs, Scots in threes, Irish in fours and Welsh in fives. In their combat roles, the Guards are light armoured and reconnaissance troops. In '' A Bridge Too Far'' (1977),
Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...
leads a squadron of Irish Guards to spearhead the ground-based push towards
Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...
. The ceremony of "Trooping the Colour" dates back to the distant past. "The Colour" is the regimental flag with all their battle honours on it. So that they could properly recognise the flag, and thus know which side they were on and where they should rally, the Colour would be paraded (trooped) in front of the regiment in a special parade before a battle. This was then turned into a ceremony. Because of the importance attached to the Colour, it is considered a great honour to be the soldier actually carrying it (the ensign), one of the Colour party protecting it, or to be in charge of the Colour party.


Reception

''The Queen's Guards'' almost entirely disappeared after its initial release. Contemporary reviews of it were not kind, and it had only a short run in cinemas, and was shown on British television just once. ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "Michael Powells flag-waving museum piece would be distressing if it weren't so inept. The chauvinistic plot is inefficiently dovetailed, flashback-style, into the newsreel pageantry of the Trooping the Colour. The Masseys – Daniel and Raymond – battle manfully with dialogue and characters as dated as a Crimean cavalry charge. The film could barely be taken as a tribute to the Guards except, just possibly, by elderly aunts in Cheltenham." Michael Powell said that 20th Century Fox "didn't like the film... they didn't understand it."


References


Notes

*


External links

* *
''The Queen's Guards''
at
BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

''The Queen's Guards''
reviews and articles at th
Powell & Pressburger Pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen's Guards, The 1961 films 1961 drama films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Michael Powell Films by Powell and Pressburger Grenadier Guards Fictional soldiers Guards Division (United Kingdom) Films set in London British drama films Films set in 1960 20th Century Fox films CinemaScope films 1960s British films Films scored by Brian Easdale