MARIE ANTOINETTE (1938)

Long and fairly engrossing biographical epic with a lot of very familiar faces. Norma Shearer plays Marie, whom we first see as a young girl of royalty chosen to marry the heir to the throne of France, Louis XVI (Robert Morley). She's beautiful and full of life, he's chubby and awkward and, apparently, impotent. Much depends on the production of a son, and when none is forthcoming, there is nasty gossip aimed at Shearer. The current king's mistress, Madame DuBarry (Gladys George), sends Shearer a "gift" of an empty cradle, and Shearer then insults George in public; the King (John Barrymore) threatens to have the marriage annulled but he dies before he can arrange it. Shearer falls in love with a dashing Count (Tyrone Power) and soon bears a son--I wasn't sure if we were to infer that the son was sired by Power or that Morley's impotence was cured somehow by the King's death. An affair involving Shearer supposedly spending state money on an extravagant necklace while the French people are starving causes her to lose public sympathy, and when the revolution comes, the people's fury leads to the deaths of both Shearer and Morley. The political situation is never made very clear; despite the importance of the mood of the times, we get only a cursory sense of why she was the target of such wrath. The script does not demonize her and Shearer plays her quite sympathetically. She is especially good toward the end when she's thrown in prison and her son is taken from her. George is very good as DuBarry, and the strong supporting cast includes Joseph Schildkraut (as the conniving Duke of Orleans), Henry Stephenson, Reginald Gardiner, George Zucco, Anita Louise, Henry Daniell, and Cecil Cunningham. It's fun to hear Barrymore say, "After me, the deluge," but I waited in vain for Shearer to say, "Let them eat cake." Great costumes and sets; I imagine if this had been shot in color, it would have a stronger reputation today. [TCM]