Mrs Brown (1997)

Director:

John Madden

Writer:

Jeremy Brock (writer)

Release Date:

18 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

Queen Victoria, the world's most powerful woman. John Brown, a simple Scottish Highlander. Their extraordinary friendship transformed an empire.

Plot:

Queen Victoria is deeply depressed after the death of her husband, disappearing from public. Her servant Brown...

Plot Keywords:

Queen | Servant | Loss Of Husband | 1880s | Prime Minister

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Judi Dench	...	Queen Victoria
Billy Connolly	...	John Brown
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Henry Ponsonby
Antony Sher	...	Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Gerard Butler	...	Archie Brown
Richard Pasco	...	Doctor Jenner
David Westhead	...	Prince of Wales (Bertie)
Bridget McConnell	...	Lady Ely
Georgie Glen	...	Lady Churchill
Catherine O'Donnell	...	Lady-in-Waiting
Sara Stewart	...	Princess Alexandra
Finty Williams	...	Princess Helena
Claire Nicolson	...	Princess Louise
Hattie Ladbury	...	Princess Alice
Oliver Kent	...	Prince Alfred
Alex Menzies	...	Prince Arthur
Simon McKerrell	...	Prince Leopold
Rupert Farley	...	Bertie's valet
Elaine Collins	...	Mrs. Grant
Jimmy Chisholm	...	Mr. Grant
Jason Morell	...	Lord Stanley
Rebecca Charles	...	Mary Taylor, Assistant Dresser
Cherith Mellor	...	Mary Ann Disraeli
George Hall	...	Speaker of the House of Commons
Robin Marchal	...	Commons counter
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Dean of Windsor
Patrick Hannaway	...	Journalist
John Ramsay	...	Journalist
Delia Lindsay	...	Society lady
James Vaughan	...	Sir Charles Dilke
Brendan O'Hea	...	Barney
Theo Fraser Steele	...	Footman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Delmar	...	The Assassin (uncredited)
Brian Jackson	...	Secretary (uncredited)

Directed by
John Madden

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jeremy Brock		writer

Produced by
Andrea Calderwood	....	executive producer
Sarah Curtis	....	producer
Rebecca Eaton	....	executive producer: WGBH
Douglas Rae	....	executive producer
Paul Sarony	....	associate producer
Nigel Warren-Green	....	executive producer: Irish Screen

Original Music by
Stephen Warbeck

Cinematography by
Richard Greatrex

Film Editing by
Robin Sales

Casting by
Michelle Guish

Production Design by
Martin Childs

Art Direction by
Charlotte Watts

Costume Design by
Deirdre Clancy

Makeup Department
Beverly Binda	....	chief hair stylist
Veronica McAleer	....	makeup artist (as Veronica Brebner)
Lisa Westcott	....	hair designer
Lisa Westcott	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Hilary Benson	....	production manager
Shellie Smith	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Olivia Lloyd	....	second assistant director
Suzanne Lynch	....	third assistant director
Deborah Saban	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Frances Bennett	....	assistant art director
Paul Bradburn	....	stand-by prop
Robert Brown	....	construction manager
Paul de Csernatony	....	stand-by prop
Gill Ducker	....	prop buyer
Paul Hedges	....	dressing prop
Penny Madden	....	graphic designer
Raymond Perry	....	property master
Richard Stanley	....	dressing prop
Stuart Watson	....	construction manager
David Williams	....	stand-by carpenter

Sound Department
Simon Brown	....	sound maintenance
Alistair Crocker	....	sound
John Downer	....	sound editor
Sarah Morton	....	dialogue editor
Rupert Scrivener	....	dubbing mixer
Paula Boram	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Tony Harding	....	special effects

Stunts
Andy Bradford	....	stunt arranger
Tom Delmar	....	stunts
Vincent Keane	....	stunts (as Vincent Ginger Keane)
Phil Lonergan	....	stunts
Tony Lucken	....	stunts
Seon Rogers	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
David Bourne	....	electrician
Taylor David	....	electrician
Mick Duffield	....	focus puller
Pat Garrett	....	grip
Tony Haslam	....	gaffer
Ian Jackson	....	best boy
Alastair Rae	....	Steadicam operator
Alastair Rae	....	second camera operator
Deborah Smith	....	clapper loader
Jamie Summers	....	electrician
Mark Tillie	....	still photographer
Lorna Will	....	focus puller: second camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Julian Day	....	costume assistant
Lorraine Richards	....	costume assistant
Marie Ross	....	costume assistant
Ros Ward	....	wardrobe supervisor
Lee Clayton	....	costume cutter (uncredited)
Lee Clayton	....	tailor (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Colin Coull	....	color timer
Jonathan Sales	....	assistant editor
Trevor Brown	....	colorist (uncredited)

Music Department
Mark Tucker	....	score recording engineer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Mitchell Edwards	....	driver: camera car

Other crew
Kim Armitage	....	script supervisor
Robert Bernstein	....	script editor
Roland Caine	....	location manager
Helen Dolan	....	production secretary
Owen Dudley Edwards	....	historical consultant
Joe Gibbs	....	location manager
Lynne Greenshields	....	assistant accountant
Kenny Hutchinson	....	singing coach
Debbie Kaye	....	horse wrangler
Margaret Knights	....	historical consultant
Penny Madden	....	title designer
Alexandra McIntosh	....	production secretary
George Rosie	....	idea
Claire Tovey	....	location manager
Susanna Wyatt	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• BBC Scotland
• Ecosse Films
• Irish Screen
• Mobile Masterpiece Theatre
• WGBH

Distributors

• Folkets Bio (1998) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (UK)
• Filmes Castello Lopes (Portugal)
• Folkets Bio (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Föreningen FilmCentrum (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Imagem Filmes (2001) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Imagem Filmes (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Filmverleih
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Laurenfilm (Spain)
• Les Acacias (France)
• Miramax Films
• New Films International
• RCV Home Entertainment (199?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• SF Video (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Anvil Post Production  post-production
• Anvil Post Production  sound re-recording
• General Screen Enterprises  opticals
• Housestyle Graphics  titles
• Lansdown Recording Studios  music studio (as Lansdowne Recording Studios)
• Milan Records  soundtrack published by
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• The Edit Store  editing
• Tru-Cut  negative cutting

Also Known As:

Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown (USA)
Mrs Brown (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG for a beating, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK | Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Brazil:12 | Finland:S | France:U | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ardverikie estate, Highland, Scotland, UK

Company:

BBC Scotland

Trivia:

Actor Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Henry Ponsonby, plays opposite Dame Judi Dench as he did for years in "As Time Goes By" (1992) and again in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).

Goofs:

Continuity: Brown stands outside the Queen's window with a horse, to try to entice her to ride. Seen from the ground, he is standing on the horse's offside but when viewed from Victoria's bedroom window, he is standing on the horse's nearside.

Quotes:

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: [Inside a horse-drawn carriage traveling across a huge Highland landscape] Yesterday, Gladstone talked for three hours on the Irish Church Bill... I am as guilty as the rest of underestimating his reforming zeal. Tory days may be numbered, but I fancy there yet remains one last hope of deliverance. Wheresoever the blame lies, we must now close ranks and defend Mrs Brown's England. As for my interminable journey to the land of Calvin, oatcakes and sulphur...
[arrives at Balmoral]
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: no Prime Minister made greater sacrifice than attempting to run the country six hundred miles north of civilization.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

A film which carries extra appeal because of personal resonance.

Undoubtedly this film appeals to so very many because of the fine acting, the tenderness of a story about how a man comforts a great human being in her grief, the wit, and the careful re-creation of a period of history. For me personally, however, there was another appealing element - the highlighting of the differences between English and Scottish culture. This seems so often to be brought out very wittily by Sher's Disraeli - in his references to his suffering because of the weather and Scottish food, to this land of Calvin and Knox, and in his barbed comments to English churchmen that Her Majesty is actually becoming interested in Low Church Presbyterianism. It is because I can identify with such traits of character and belief from an Ulster Scot ancestry and because I often see others' failure to understand or appreciate those traits that the film has a degree of personal resonance.