Victoria the Great

1937

Action / Biography / Drama / History / Music

5
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 301 301

queen royal family british history 19th century british monarchy queen victoria

Plot summary

The film biography of Queen Victoria focusing initially on the early years of her reign with her marriage to Prince Albert and her subsequent rule after Albert's death in 1861.

Director

Herbert Wilcox Photo
Herbert Wilcox

Top cast

Charles Lefeaux Photo
Charles Lefeaux as Earl of Albermarle
Gordon McLeod Photo
Gordon McLeod as John Brown
Arnold Lucy Photo
Arnold Lucy
Albert Lieven Photo
Albert Lieven as Minor Role
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.09 GB
986*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds 4
2.02 GB
1480*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Maverick1962 7 / 10

A stirring celebration of Empire.

Not a film for Republicans, Victoria The Great, with a miscast Anna Neagle (far too attractive) and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert, certainly bangs the gong for Britain's achievements in the nineteenth century.Herbert Wilcox who was Anna's husband and directed all of her films, sends up the flags for Great Britain here, illustrating the long reign of the Queen, her early ascendancy to the throne at 18, her romance and love for Prince Albert, the tragedy of his passing and her subsequent stoicism coping with his death.It shows how she had a stubborn streak early on and her no nonsense approach to most things. She was reluctant at first for Albert to help her in public duties but he is depicted here as becoming bored with sitting around doing nothing and she finally relents and lets him start to do things to help.Acting is fine and in spite of being far too good looking to play the Queen, Anna Neagle holds her own and is really convincing to the end. Anton Wallbrook makes a fine Albert with many ageing character actors like H B Warner and Felix Aylmer playing leading politicians of the time. Really quite enjoyable and being dated it adds a sense of the period which is sometimes hard to achieve with more modern films. If you like films about the royal family and the old Empire, this may be for you.
Reviewed by malcolmgsw 5 / 10

Deferential Hagiography

Anna Be able rather reminds me of being a female George Arliss,since in this part of her career was playing real life people in very much the same stuff and regal manner. She never makes a realistic Queen Victoria whereas Anton Walbrook makes an excellent Prince Albert.The film is by its nature very episodic linked by intertitles.The film in its attitudes highlight the regard the royal family was held in the coronation year,notwithstanding the fall from Grace of Edward VIII.Nowadays the media view the royal in a rather.more critical manner.The Technicolour in the last reel is worth the wait. The production is very well mounted.
Reviewed by jamesrupert2014 7 / 10

Reverential biopic - superficial and dated but still worth watching

The life of England's second-longest reigning monarch is followed through a series of vignettes from her ascent to the throne in 1837 to the Diamond Jubilee of 1897 that celebrated her sixtieth year as Monarch. The film was made a century after the coronation of 18-year old Princess Alexandrina Victoria and, not unexpectedly for a pre-WW2 British film about the royal family, is very reverential. Victoria reigned over a rapidly evolving British Empire (she became 'Empress of India' in 1879) during a century of massive global political and social change, so as a biography, the 110 minute film was destined to be superficial and other than in passing references, little mention is made of the major historical events of the era. As in her life, major figures from British history come and go, such as the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Melbourne Lord Palmerston, William Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, and throughout the actors portraying them are fine and 'convincing'. Anna Neagle remains a bit 'pretty' for the Queen as she ages, and although an effort is made to age the actress accordingly for her final scenes as a 78-year old woman the results are not particularly convincing. Anton Walbrook is very good as Prince Albert and the segments of him coming to England to meet the young Queen (his cousin) and his later chafing at his role of Royal Consort who was expected to distance himself from politics are (IMO) the best parts of the film. The recreations of historical events such as the coronation are interesting, with lots of pomp and stirring music and the black and white cinematography is very good (the dramatic change to technicolour for the Jubilee was undercut somewhat by 'Silver Screen' inserting a commercial break at the junction). More interesting as a period-piece piece of film-making than as an actual biography of 'Victoria Regina' but well worth watching. 'Victoria the Great' was made when England was still the dominant world power and is about a beloved Queen under whom the Empire expanded to its greatest extent, so anyone expecting even a hint of 'mea culpa' for the less desirable aspects of colonialism and empire-building will be disappointed.
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