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Victoria In Dover - 1954
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1954's German-language film "Victoria In Dover" is our next blog offering. Released in Germany under the title "Mädchenjahre einer Königin", in the USA it was given the title "Victoria In Dover". Another release of the film was titled "The Story Of Vickie". The film deals with the early period of the reign of young Queen Victoria. It is a highly fictionalized account of her first meeting with Prince Albert, her future husband.
The film's cast includes Romy Schneider, Adrian Hoven, Magda Schneider, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Christl Mardayn, Paul Horbiger, Rudolf Vogel, Fred Liewehr, Stefan Skodler, Peter Weck, and Rudolf Lenz.
Young Princess Victoria has only one friend in her life, her governess Baroness Lehzen. (Played here by real life mother/daughter acting team: Romy Schneider and Magda Schneider).
Her relationship with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, is tenuous and strained. The Duchess never lets her daughter have a moment to herself, something the young girl wants dearly.
The Duchess's brother, King Leopold of Belgium, comes to visit with the news that the King of England is dying. Victoria is unaware that she is next in line to inherit the throne. King Leopold enlists the help of Baroness Lehzen to tell Victoria the future that awaits her.
After a private moment with her uncle, Victoria goes to find her mother. The Duchess of Kent is with her comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who is anxious to be a power behind the throne in the new reign. Victoria witnesses an imprudent moment that makes her extremely mistrustful of Sir John.
Baroness Lehzen tells Victoria that she will be Queen of England in the very near future. The young girl realizes the gravity of the situation that has fallen on her shoulders and proclaims, "I will be good".
Late one night, Victoria is awakened by the news that she is now Queen of England following the death of her uncle, King William.
Baroness Lehzen is the first to congratulate Victoria. The new queen asks her friend to stay with her forever.
The Duchess of Kent is full of ideas for her young daughter. Victoria, however, has her own plans. She dismisses Sir John Conroy from court, and decides to go against all of her mother's suggestions, which include dismissing the entire Cabinet and appointing those suggested by Sir John.
Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, arrives for an audience with Victoria. He first meets Baroness Lehzen, whom he partners with in helping to guide Victoria in her first months of the new reign.
Victoria and Melbourne get along famously. The new queen places her complete confidence in the more experienced Melbourne.
He guides her through her first steps as queen. When she inquires about the happiness of the people in her realm, she is told that everything is fine. Victoria, however, feels that there are things the prime minister is not telling her.
Against the wishes of Lord Melbourne, Victoria finds some newspapers and reads about the conditions of the lower working classes, and she is appalled at what she discovers.
After a formal ceremony, Victoria informs her advisors that she wishes for changes to be made in the labor laws governing working class citizens. She says she wishes that this will be carried out or she won't be queen anymore. When she leaves the room, Melbourne agrees that the laws need to be changed and that after they are, they need to focus on getting the queen married.
The Duchess of Kent, however, has already been thinking of this, and so has her brother, the King of Belgium. They each have their own candidates they want Victoria to consider.
Lord Melbourne, too, has a candidate in mind: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. The only portrait he can find is one of Albert as a child. Victoria thinks the portrait is adorable and says they must have him visit. Melbourne is pleased and he tells Victoria that this is his marriage candidate for her. "A child?" she asks. He tells her that the "child" is now twenty-five. She looks at the portrait again and asks, "a dwarf?" Stubbornly, Victoria refuses to get married.
With Baroness Lehzen and a trusted servant named George, she heads incognito to Dover so they can catch a boat to Paris. Victoria is intent on living a little bit before being tied down to marriage.
Unfortunately, heavy rains make a boat trip across the English Channel impossible. At an inn at Dover, she meets a young German student, and the two take an instant liking to each other.
They have dinner together and even dance a new step called the waltz. Victoria and the young man spend hours twirling around the dance floor, their happiness radiant to all who observe them.
Victoria finds herself in love with the man at the end of the evening, and she confesses as much to Baroness Lehzen.
The young man's companion arrives at her room later and asks Victoria to leave with a sum of money. The young man is really Prince Albert and he is intended to be the husband of Queen Victoria. Victoria makes no mention of who she truly is, and agrees to step out of the picture entirely. She's thrilled that Prince Albert has turned out to be so agreeable.
At a ball celebrating her birthday, Victoria is introduced to the candidates for her hand that her mother and uncle have brought forward: Prince Henry of Orange and Grand Duke Alexander of Russia.
Prince Albert arrives late and is stunned to see that the woman sitting on the throne as Queen Victoria was the same woman he danced the night away with in Dover.
And Baroness Lehzen is equal parts shocked and glad to see that the young German student is in fact Prince Albert.
Victoria and Albert talk animatedly as he is presented to her. They even dance the new waltz step in front of the entire court.
The King of Belgium and Duchess of Kent are baffled at Victoria's ready acceptance of Prince Albert as they whisk around the dancefloor.
After a minor misunderstanding involving protocol, Prince Albert arrives at the palace, where Victoria proposes to him. He accepts, and the two admit their love to one another before embracing.
Cast rundown:
Romy Schneider..............................Queen Victoria
Adrian Hoven..................................Prince Albert
Magda Schneider.............................Baroness Lehzen
Karl Ludwig Diehl.............................Lord Melbourne
Christl Mardayn...............................Duchess of Kent
Paul Horbiger...................................Prof. Landmann
Rudolf Vogel....................................George
Fred Liewehr....................................King Leopold of Belgium
Stefan Skodler.................................Sir John Conroy
Peter Weck......................................Prince Henry of Orange
Rudolf Lenz.....................................Grand Duke Alexander
And that's it for Victoria In Dover. Historical inaccuracies aside, it really is a delightful film. The inn scenes between Victoria and Albert are really sweet and enjoyable to watch. After making her appearance as the young Queen Victoria, Romy Schneider won the role of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the "Sissi" films.
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