Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

John Bailey I'm won't give a play-by-play of the plot. The film follows history fairly closely. An Austrian girl of royal birth becomes queen of France, only to run into the French Revolution and it's Terror.Norma Shearer gives an excellent performance as Marie Antoinette. Her real-life husband, Irving Thalberg, one of the top producers at MGM, had died at age 37, only a year before this film began production. That Ms Shearer was able to bring off such a performance at such a time was a testimony to her professionalism.Another great performance was that of John Barrymore as King Louis XV. It's so good to see these wonderful actors of the Golden Age do their stuff. Every facial tic says so much. Most of the actors of today can't do it, only a very few.I reserve my highest praise for the man who plays the Duc de Orleans, Joseph Schildkraut. When you first see him in the film, with his makeup, painted eyebrows, lipstick, and mouche (beauty patch), you know you're in the 18th century. That's only the beginning of his portrayal. His body is supple and he bows before royalty with such grace, he must've had many lessons in 18th century comportment. His dancing is wonderful, as he circles the queen, his body arches toward her and his head leans in her direction. He plays a bad guy, but as in many films, the bad guy steals the show.Tyrone Power as Swedish Count Axel von Fersen, (a real historical character who was a possible lover of the queen), is on the other hand, a bit too goody- goody for this film. His real-life character, von Fersen, a Swedish count who fought in the American Revolutionary War, did try to save the queen's life during the French Revolution, so to leave him out would have been regrettable. The film ends with the death of the queen, but the real Count Fersen also met a violent death twenty years later in Sweden during a riot.As a contrast, I saw the 2006 version of 'Marie Antoinette' the same week and it did not move me. It was a throw-away of no consequence. The 1938 MGM version, available on Amazon, on the other hand, was fabulous. It cost a fortune to make, used hundreds of extras, the costumes must've cost a fortune, the script is well done, and the acting superb. Sometime these big budget films were dead on arrival, but not this one. Score one for the Golden Age. Perhaps we should bring back Royalty. After all, it was France who supported the American Revolution and bankrupted herself - leading to the end of the French Royalty.

romanorum1 Marie Antoinette, born in 1755, a daughter of Austrian empress Maria Theresa, was 15 years old when she was told by her mother that she was to be betrothed to the French heir to the throne, the future Louis XVI. Maria Theresa's ultimate reason was to secure strategically the Austrian-French alliance in balance of power Europe. Marie was of course excited in a little girl sort of way. She was to leave home forever and travel to France with a small entourage (1770). The first meeting with Louis XVI was awkward, to say the least ("I like to be alone."). The king, although well-meaning and moral, was dull, fat and introverted; he was far too awkward to preside over a worldly-wise royal court. His main interest was in clock making and repairing. In fact, it was said that the marriage with Marie Antoinette was not consummated for quite a few years.The French court at Versailles was flamboyant, to say the least. There were gilded furniture, expensive paintings, and many amusements. (The movie itself is of lavish scope and sets.) Minuets were danced and childish games were played. The men were dandies: they had perfumed wigs, ruffled shirt cuffs, silk stockings and knee breeches (culottes). The women used heavy makeup, powdered their cheeks, wore jewelry, and had grand wigs and huge gowns that barely could cross an open doorway. Oh, their attire is something to behold! There certainly was no lack of intrigue and back-stabbing. In such a degenerate atmosphere the naïve Marie Antoinette was seduced; over time, Marie became known for her extravagance. France was really a rich country, but the good life was not shared. The French populace demanded attention to their wants; they were hungry and wore rags. They grumbled over the high taxes need to run the government, especially the court. Relief was not forthcoming for a variety of good reasons. After a series of scandals and odd events, especially the startling "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" (1785, see additional information below), the royal family's situation was doomed. On 14 July 1789 the fall of the Bastille to the uncouth and unwashed people began the two-year process whereby the king's power was first reduced then revoked entirely. Had he been smarter and sophisticated, the king may have been able to broker a deal that would have made him a constitutional monarch (instead of an absolute one). The people's leaders ran the courts, and they were none-too-merciful. The royal family was moved from the Palace of Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris (1789). But after the royal family's failed escape (June 1791), they were housed in a Paris prison known as the Temple. First the king was stripped of his power, and then the queen's son was taken from her (he would mysteriously die in 1795 although his sister did live a long time). The last royal dinner in prison consisted of onion soup and bread; and the entire scene was heartbreaking. It occurred the night before the king's execution. First the king, then the queen, was guillotined (in 1793, about nine months apart); both did actually go to their deaths bravely. Count Axel Fersen survived and went back to Sweden; his end would come in 1810.Norma Shearer sympathetically portrays Marie Antoinette, and Robert Morley does the same for Louis XVI. The gorgeous Anita Louise plays the Princess de Lamballe, who, loyal to the royal family to the end, dies cruelly at the hands of a mob. Tyrone Power, Count Axel Fersen, was the loyal lover to the end who unsuccessfully engineers the escape of the royal family. John Barrymore portrays the unpopular and unlikeable Louis XV, who has the famous quote: "After me, the deluge." Joseph Schildkraut is the Duke of Orleans, an untrustworthy and ambitious radical who is in a powdered wig and heavy make-up. Gladys George is Madame du Barry, a putty-headed mistress who was later guillotined for treason (her inglorious end is not covered in the movie). Like other court mistresses she had no foresight to understand that her days were numbered once her king and benefactor died. BONUS INFORMATION ABOUT THE AFFAIR OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE (an historical fact): The discredited adventuress, Countess de La Motte, duped Louis Cardinal de Rohan into believing he would regain his long lost court favor with Marie Antoinette if he would broker a deal for an extremely valuable necklace worth 1.6 million livres (originally intended for Louis XV's mistress, Madame du Barry). Mme. La Motte and her accomplices then engineered a sham correspondence between de Rohan and the queen. Mme. La Motte forged letters from the queen to Rohan attesting to her interest in the necklace. There was even a brief, sham meeting in the Gardens of Versailles between de Rohan and a woman impersonating the queen (the impersonator was really a prostitute). When de Rohan did obtain the necklace from the jeweler, he turned it over to Mme. La Motte. Her husband then took it to London where it was broken down and sold. The scandal became public when de Rohan, left on his own, could not make the payments on the necklace. De Rohan was acquitted of larceny although he lost his position in court. Mme. La Motte was found guilty and imprisoned, but later escaped. Unfortunately, as the affair came at a critical time in the reign of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette was unjustly implicated by the French public. When the verdict of Rohan's acquittal was announced in the packed Paris Opera House in the presence of the queen, the crowds cheered as Marie Antoinette left in dismay (1786). Never again would she regain a semblance of public favor.

g_dekok I have always found Ms. Shearer to be a much finer actress than joan crawford. Crawford was an OK actress, but Norma was obviously better. In her myriad of roles from "Marie Antoinette" to Mary in "The Women", it simply shows.Crawford grew desperate for good roles in her later years, and it was only through the pity shown her by the studios that she got any job at all. Her role in "The Women" showed her as she truly was, pitiful, grasping at straws, desperate in her life.I believe it was Bette Davis who remarked that "of course she was popular in Hollywood. She slept with every male except Lassie!"

mwm-5 This beautiful black and white film literally sparkles with the most beautiful costumes in cinematic history. Shearer and Power are luminous and the performance of Robert Morley is a gem. I believe he IS Louis XVI! It is SO much better than than that tedious monstrosity directed by Sophia Coppola. If you've read Antonia Fraser's brilliant book, you'll see the tragic history she describes so vividly come to life. The old-fashioned nature of the film making actually contributes to our ability to surrender our modern sensibility to see a long-ago style of living recreated. And unlike the Coppola film, it is not dull and boring and static, but is filled with action and excitement. Like Fraser extraordinary book, the life of Marie Antoinette is dramatized from her becoming queen of France as a teenager to her white hair and ravaged countenance as she meets her fate. It also dramatizes the so-called Affair of the Necklace much better than the 2002 film of that title. If you can get past the somewhat corny style, you'll really enjoy what old films could do better than all our contemporary technology.