Famous unmade script by Jay Presson Allen which almost got shot by Alexander Mackendrick starring Mia Farrow before being cancelled in the great British film crisis of 1969. It was famous because Mackendrick pretty much retired soon after to go into teaching and because it sounded better than the 1971 Hal Wallis movie that was made on this queen.
The result actually isn't that great. It's fine. But it doesn't fix the problems in the story - Mary's state of mind. She gets knocked around too much - Rizzio gets killed, her husband hits her, her husband gets killed, Bothwell goes away, she winds up in prison.
I think Mary is one of those characters too complex to be a lead she might be better off as a support character. She feels real here and it's a good gutsy drama but it's unfocused.
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