Sixty Years a Queen

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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.^[1]

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.^[1] The picture was largely filmed at Barker's newly built Ealing Studios, where Barker gained a reputation for extravagant productions, often historical.^[2]

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.^[1]

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

• Sixty Years a Queen at IMDb