Marie Antoinette (1938)

Directed by W. S. Van Dyke. Starring Norma Shearer, Robert Morley, Tyrone Power, Joseph Schildkraut, Anita Louise, Henry Stephenson, Gladys George, Cora Witherspoon, John Barrymore, Barnett Parker, Leonard Penn, Alma Kruger, Scotty Beckett, Henry Daniell, Reginald Gardiner.

Lavish costumer serves more to solidify Shearer’s status as the “First Lady of MGM” than to tell an engrossing life story of the materialistic, tragic queen. Her “working marriage” with unsuitable King Louis XVI (Morley, giving the movie’s best performance in his first credited film role) is shown as being one of reluctance that evolves into affection and loyalty, and had this aspect shared focus with a juxtaposition between her political naïvety and the suffering of the commoners outside the palace walls, the filmmakers might have really had something here. Instead, the narrative advances in clumps, pandering to the viewer by wasting entire film reels on Marie’s affair with a Swedish count (Power, giving his customary unremarkable performance) and the royal family’s suspense-free attempts to avoid capture as revolution sweeps the land. Since it would be uncouth to declare that Scotty Beckett’s infuriating performance as the little prince is worthy of the guillotine, please ignore those words. Handsome production, opulent dress, fine music, but involving only in fits and starts over a running time that must be described as excessive, what with so little meat on these historical bones. Final film project for Irving Thalberg who passed away during the planning stages. F. Scott Fitzgerald made uncredited contributions to the screenplay.

66/100