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[[File:FilmMaryOfScotland.jpg|frame|"What's my throne? I'd put a torch to it for any one of the days with you."]]
'''''[[Mary of Scotland (
Nevertheless, the film is undeniably handsomely mounted, with attractive costumes by Walter Plunkett (which, indeed, started a mini-fad for in 1936 for Scottish styles) and striking high-contrast black and white cinematography by Joseph H. Augusta. Ford may have disliked the [[Narm|narmy]] script and [[Tastes Like Diabetes|loveydovey]] romantic plot, but seems to have enjoyed deploying his actors and the various masses of extras in an almost balletic fashion in several sequences in which the characters are essentially wordless while the soundtrack (by RKO second-string composer Nathaniel Shilkret) establishes the requisite romantic mood, often with surprising success.
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''Synopsis (Spoilers Included):''
{{quote|
[[What Could Have Been|Interestingly]], Ginger Rogers tried out for the part of Elizabeth under the pseudonym "Lady Ainsley," much to the annoyance of [[Katherine Hepburn]], who detested her (and actually kicked her at one point during the screen test). At one point Hepburn is said to have lamented the fact that she could not play ''both'' queens, on hearing which, [[Deadpan Snarker]] John Carradine remarked: "If you did, how would you know which one to upstage?" The part eventually went to Fredric March's wife, Florence Eldridge.
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Alcoholic]]: Darnley
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Darnley, with his dangling ear-bob and fashionably cut doublet. He's still jealous of Mary, though.
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* [[Dramatic Thunder]]: As Mary goes to her execution, the heavens crackle with thunder above her.
* [[Empathic Environment]]
* [[
* [[Evil Chancellor]]: Moray
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: The film depicts Elizabeth as a vicious, calculating, almost witch-like caricature.
* [[Ham
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Naturally, as played by lively, red-headed Katherine Hepburn. (Interestingly, the real Mary's ''gray'' hair as a young woman (ash-blonde, perhaps?) is called one of her most attractive features by Brantôme.)
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: How Mary reacts when she hears of Bothwell's death.
* [[The High Queen]]: The film's characterization of Mary
* [[Historical Beauty Update]]
* [[Historical Domain Character]]: [[The Virgin Queen|Elizabeth I]] of England; [[Mary of Scotland|Mary I]] of Scotland; the infant James VI of Scotland (later James I of England); [
* [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]: Whatever one thinks of Mary, most historians agree that Bothwell was little more than a pirate and a brigand, with an eye open for the main chance, who ditched his fiancée for a chance at Mary.
* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: Even the most fanatical Papist could scarcely accept this travesty of [[The Virgin Queen]]; whatever else Elizabeth was, she was at least intelligent and charming.
* [[Holier Than Thou]]: John Knox, who treats the ''obviously'' innocent and tolerant Mary as a Scarlet Woman dripping with the blood of martyrs of the Reformed Religion.
* [[Hollywood History]]: Of the many, ''many'', MANY historical liberties taken in this film, probably the most egregious is the meeting of the two queens. In reality, Elizabeth was desperate to avoid any meeting with Mary.
* [[Hollywood Costuming]]: There is not a hint of a farthingale in this film, and the Scots lords are mostly clad in [[Man in
* [[Kangaroo Court]]: Mary stands utterly alone against a towering bench of judges, who have obviously predetermined her condemnation.
* [[Large Ham]]: Amid a titanic struggle of over-acting, in which Hepburn and March make gallant efforts, and Moroni Olson chews holes in the very rock of Edinburgh Castle, the prize must go to Florence Edridge's flouncing, pouting, cackling, bellowing Elizabeth -- the Queen of Large Hams.
* [[
* [[Narm]]: In a film packed with it, a stand-out moment is when Bothwell enters the great hall, bellows, "Hullo, Darnley, still hangin' about?" at the effete Lord, and then lifts his kilt to warm his backside at the hearth.
* [[Narm Charm]]: As corny as it all is, the viewer may be surprised to find himself with a lump in his throat when Mary mounts the scaffold, to become luminous as she hears the ghostly sound of Bothwell's pipers, as her "dark star" falls and the lightning blazes overhead.
* [[Purple Prose]]: Elizabeth to Mary:
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* [[Regional Riff]]: The score makes use of various melodies such as Loch Lomond (''See'' [[Crowd Song]]'', above'') to set the scene, including, to introduce the English court, ''The British Grenadiers'', [[They Just Didn't Care|not written until over a century later]].
* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: Darnley's ''slightly'' unhistorical death. (''See the entry on'' [[Mary of Scotland|Mary's life]]'' for further details.'')
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 1930s]]
[[Category:Mary
[[Category:Film]]
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