Fire Over England

Fire Over England is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane, nominally from the 1936 novel Fire Over England by AEW Mason. Leigh's performance in the film helped to convince David O. Selznick to cast her as Scarlett O'Hara in his 1939 production of Gone with the Wind. The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I focusing on England's victory over the Spanish Armada. Plot During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, England is concerned by the impending arrival of the Spanish Armada. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), English privateers such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World. Elizabeth's chief advisers are the Lord Treasurer, Lord Burleigh (Morton Selten), and her longtime admirer, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Leslie Banks). Burleigh's 18-year-old granddaughter Cynthia (Vivien Leigh) is one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, and the ageing queen is plagued by jealousy of the girl's beauty and vivacity. In a sea battle between the Spanish, led by Don Miguel (Robert Rendel), and the English, led by his old friend Sir Richard Ingolby (Lyn Harding) the English are captured. Miguel allows Richard's son Michael (Laurence Olivier) to escape. Michael swims ashore on Miguel's estate, and his wounds are tended to by Miguel's daughter Elena (Tamara Desni), who quickly becomes enamoured of the handsome Englishman, despite her being engaged to marry. As the months pass, Michael recovers and laments being apart from Cynthia, his sweetheart, but is nonetheless impressed by Elena's charms.