TCM's 31 Days of Oscar tends to bring a selection of movies to the channel that is on average more recent. I do, of course, say "more recent" in the sense of only being closer to the present day that the regular selection of TCM movies. One such film that I've got on my DVR only goes back to 1997: Mrs Brown, which airs tonight (Feb. 5) at 8:00 PM on TCM.
Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria, and the opening title cards give some background information to anyone who might not know that much about British history. Victoria came to the throne at the age of 18 in 1837, even before she got married to Prince Albert. By all accounts this was a happy marriage, right up until Albert's death at a relatively young age even by the standards of the day back in 1861. As a result of her beloved husband's death, Victoria went into a period of mourning that lasted for years. This greatly worried many of the people around Victoria, both for personal reasons and the fact that some in Britain began to question the institution of a monarchy.
With that in mind, someone in the entourage around Victoria comes up with an idea. Prince Albert liked to go horseback riding and hunting up at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands. There, he was assisted by an able servant and highlands guide named John Brown (Billy Connolly). Why not bring Brown down to the Isle of Wight where Victoria is holed up, if you can call it that for such a large entourage, and perhaps Victoria can, with at least horseback riding, take the first steps toward resuming her public duties.
John heads south, and shows able duty, although to the point that it's irritating for the rest of the folks at court because he's so unorthodox and doesn't understand the first thing about royal protocol. He reasons he has no way of knowing when Her Majesty is going to ride, and since not being there when she does would be a problem, he stands in the courtyard with her pony waiting, which is just not the way things are done. And logically, you'd think Brown should know that they'll come to the stables to look for him. Eventually, however, Victoria does want to go for a ride, and Brown accompanies her.
It's the start of a devoted friendship, the nature of which is not truly known by historians even to this day. Brown has an inability to adhere to strict protocol, and his blunt ways shock both the court and the servants. At the same time, however, it seems to be having a bit of a positive effect on Her Majesty, resulting in Brown's promotion. And she really lets loose, at least by the stereotypical standards of Victorian propriety people generally think of when they think of the morality of that era, when the court goes up to Balmoral.
And Her Majesty still hasn't really resumed public duties in the way she's supposed to, such as the "throne speech" that opens a new session of the House of Commons. Prime Minister Disraeli comes north to try to persuade Victoria to do her duty. And with Brown taking an increasingly active role in the royal household, others are resenting him to the point that there's some palace intrigue. Brown is accosted in the stables and beaten, with it being made to look like he was extremely intoxicated. Brown offers to resign, but Victoria won't have it. Brown eventually becomes head of security, but the power is going to his head and his devotion is making him paranoid.
Mrs Brown is another example of the sort of historical drama that the British seem to do such a fine job of making, especially in the era once movies didn't become so tied to the studio lots and moviemakers could do more location shooting. Britain has much more heritage than the US and uses it to full advantage in movies like this. Judi Dench, unsurprisingly, does an excellent job as Victoria, picking up an Oscar nomination. Billy Connolly is also quite good, and the movie is always relatively lovely to look at although it doesn't have that rich a color palette. (There's a lot of green and brown in the Scottish Highlands, I guess.)
I had never actually seen Mrs Brown before, but I'm definitely glad I did watch it. You should too.
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