Sixty Years a Queen is a 1913 British silent historical film directed by Bert Haldane and starring Blanche Forsythe, Louie Henri and Fred Paul.
Outline The film portrays the six decade-long reign of Queen Victoria, serving as a wider depiction of the Victorian era and its leading British figures. It was based on the 1897 non-fiction work of the same title by Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet which had been written to celebrate Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.Gabriel A. Sivan, “George Berthold Samuelson (1889–1947): Britain’s Jewish film pioneer” in Jewish Historical Studies, vol. 44 (2012) pp. 205–206
Production The film was conceived in 1912 at a meeting between G. B. Samuelson and his brother Julian Wylie. Samuelson was looking for his first film project, and later brought in Will Barker as his co-producer. The picture was largely filmed at Barker's newly built Ealing Studios, where Barker gained a reputation for extravagant productions, often historical.Oakley p. 58
A great deal of money was invested in Sixty Years a Queen, and more than a thousand actors and extras were employed, on many locations. There was also much advance publicity. The picture was a great success at the box-offices, making the producers a profit of some £35,000.
More than twenty years later Herbert Wilcox made a similar film, Sixty Glorious Years, which was also very popular.
Cast Blanche Forsythe as Queen Victoria (younger) Louie Henri as Queen Victoria (older) Fred Paul as Archbishop of Canterbury Roy Travers as Prince Albert Gilbert Esmond as Duke of Wellington E. Story Gofton as W.E. Gladstone Rolf Leslie as 27 Different Roles J. Hastings Batson Alfred Bailey Groves as Prince Edward
References
Bibliography Oakley, Charles. Where We Came In: Seventy Years of the British Film Industry. Routledge, 2013.
External links