The Queen's Guards (film)

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The Queen's Guards (short version)

The Queen's Guards is a 1961 British military drama directed by Michael Powell. It stars Daniel Massey, Raymond Massey, Robert Stephens, and Ursula Jeans. The film was Powell’s last British feature after the controversy surrounding his previous film, Peeping Tom. Powell later called The Queen's Guards the most inept piece of filmmaking he had produced or directed, though he blamed the weak story and screenplay rather than his own work.

Plot
The story centers on John Fellowes, an officer in the Grenadier Guards, as he trains for the Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1960. John is the son of retired Guardsman Capt. Fellowes, and his elder brother was a Guards officer who was killed in action. John feels pressure to live up to his family’s proud Guards tradition. During his training, he makes a mistake that echoes the fate of his brother. He befriends Henry Wynne-Walton, who is invited to meet the Fellowes family. The father is devoted to the Guards but physically disabled, and the family life is tightly tied to the Guards’ world.

In a desert mission, John commands a unit against rebels. Haunted by his brother’s death, he narrowly succeeds, aided by Henry and his men. Back in London, the Trooping the Colour ceremony approaches. Mr. Dobbie (Ruth’s father) overcomes his dislike of the Guards to attend with Ruth, and Capt. Fellowes climbs upstairs to glimpse the ceremony through a window. John is given the honor of commanding the Colour party during the parade.

Production
The idea came from Simon Harcourt-Smith, inspired by watching the Household Cavalry near Buckingham Palace. The screenplay was written by Harcourt-Smith and Roger Milner, with Powell and producer duties shared in Imperial Films. Although billed as a CinemaScope picture, The Queen's Guards was filmed in Technirama. The production used access to Guards barracks and training areas, and included sequences with real guardsmen at the Trooping the Colour ceremony, which took place on June 11, 1960. Principal photography began in late August 1960 after some delays and script rewrites; some Libya desert sequences had been planned, but budget cuts forced many scenes to be shot in England. The film aims to show that the Guards are both ceremonial and fighting regiments.

Cast and details
- Daniel Massey, Raymond Massey, Robert Stephens, Ursula Jeans, Judith Stott (as Ruth)
- Cinematography: Gerry Turpin; Editing: Noreen Ackland; Music: Brian Easdale
- Production company: Imperial Films; Distributor: 20th Century Fox
- Run time: 110 minutes; Language: English; Country: United Kingdom

Reception and legacy
The film premiered in London on October 11, 1961, and was released on the Rank circuit in late October. It received a brief cinema run and then faded from view, with contemporary reviews being mixed or negative. The Monthly Film Bulletin criticized it as a “flag-waving” and “inept” pageant that didn’t coherently integrate its battlefield and ceremonial elements. Michael Powell later noted that Fox invested money but “didn’t like the film” and chose not to release it in the United States. The Queen's Guards remains a lesser-known entry in Powell’s career, notable for its attempt to blend military family drama with the Trooping the Colour ceremony.