Classic Movie and The Affair of The Necklace

Marie Antoinette (1938) is now on DVD. Norma Shearer plays Marie, and Tyrone Power plays her lover Axel Von Ferson. Robert Morley plays her husband King Louis the XVI.

The movie is based on the heavily researched book on the Queen of France written by Stefan Zweig. As you watch the movie you can appreciate how the Queen led her life. She comes across as a woman that is juvenile, out of touch with the real world, whose life interest was clothes and make-up. Her husband King Louis the XVI had medical problems, which rendered sex impossible. Marie seeks this elsewhere–in the arms of her lover Axel.

The king eventually has surgery and later in their marriage they have two children. Marie eventually matures and learns to love her husband. She becomes dedicated to him. The “Affair of the Necklace” led to Marie’s doom. While Marie and the King were living in the lap of luxury, the poor in France were starving. Their detachment from the country led them straight to the guillotine.

The production of W.S. Van Dyke, Marie Antoinette had a whopping 1.8 million dollar budget–they spared no expense. The ballroom scenes are grand, and spectacular. A designer (Adrian) created the most beautiful gowns to ever grace the screens. They even had a former Russian Imperial Opera milliner supervise the making of headdresses. Because of the budget they abandoned the idea of making the movie in color. Although the movie is black and white it is still something to behold.

Norma Shearer’s Oscar winning performance as Marie is captivating. She captured the queen’s youth, vitality, beauty and charm. The most touching scenes are those when she is imprisoned with her children. I’ve yet to see an actress cry like that. You can’t help but feel sorrow and compassion for a silly woman repentant of her youthful and stupid mistakes. Something only Norma Shearer can do. Tyrone Power is gorgeous, tender, and passionate. You have to wonder if this guy was really like that… Robert Morley as the King is nothing to sneeze at, totally brilliant. With maybe the exception of the passionate romance between Axel and Marie, the movie is historically accurate.

Get this movie if only to see Norma Shearer at her best, but then, how can Norma be anything else?

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