Mary, Queen of Scots      

By Marshall Fine

As costume dramas go, this is a passionate and feisty one, keyed by the ever-luminous Vanessa Redgrave in the title role and the sharp-edged Glenda Jackson as her jealous cousin, Queen Elizabeth I (who knew a thing or two about palace intrigue). Mary, who was raised in France as a Catholic, claims the Scottish crown from her mother upon her death. But she runs up against religious prejudice, both from the Protestant Elizabeth (who had encountered anti-Protestant bias before she took the throne) and from Mary's Protestant half-brother James Stuart (Patrick McGoohan). Elizabeth, whose own reign is shaky (given a strong Catholic presence in her country), is nervous about her Catholic cousin--and made more so by Mary's seeming inability to appreciate the political niceties of the period. Redgrave received an Oscar nomination for her performance.

Academy Awards

Mary, Queen of Scots received Academy Awards nominations for Actress (Vanessa Redgrave), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Terence Marsh - Art Direction, Robert Cartwright - Art Direction, Peter Howitt - Set Decoration), Costume Design (Margaret Furse), Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Dramatic Score; John Barry) and Sound (Bob Jones, John Aldred).

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