Marie Antoinette - (US, 1938)


Figure 1.--Here we see Louis' and Marie's two children. The Dauphin played by Scotty Beckett wears a skeleton suit. Their father Louis XVI has just gone to the scaffold off screen but the children have yet to take in the full reality of the event.

"Marie Antoinette" (Warner Brothers) deals with one of the most famous women of history, the young Austrian princess who became queen of France. The film was one of the most lavish black and white historical movies ever made. A factor here, of course, is the lavish hair styles and clothing of thecFrench Court. It was based on the famous biographical romance by Stefan Zweig and gives prominence to the Swedish count, Axel de Fersen, who is supposed to have had a love affair with the French queen and who tried unsuccessfully to save her from the guillotine. There was such an individual who was very close to the Queem. Whether they had actually consumated a love hair is not known with any certainty. The screenplay was written by Donald Ogden Stewart and the film directed by W.S. Van Dyke. The action covers the life of Marie Antoinette from 1755, when, as an Austrian princess, she was betrothed and married to the Dauphin, grandson of Louis XV, to 1793, when she was beheaded for treason during the Great Terror of the French Revolution. Actually she was charged with many offenses including false charges of unspeakable acts with her son. These were charges were baseless and meant by Revolutionary officials to defame her. There is no doubt, however, that she was guilty of treason. The Dauphin was played by a young Scotty Beckett.

Filmology

"Marie Antoinette" (Warner Brothers) deals with one of the most famous women of history, the young Austrian princess who became queen of France. The film was one of the most lavish black and white historical movies ever made. A factor here, of course, is the lavish hair styles and clothing of thecFrench Court. It was based on the famous biographical romance by Stefan Zweig. The screenplay was written by Donald Ogden Stewart and the film directed by W.S. Van Dyke.

French Revolution

The French Revolution (1789) is one of the great turning points of history. Historians still debate the consequences and in particular if Napoleon was the end or a continuation of the Revolution. The Revolution set off a turbulent period of European history which was not entirely ended until Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo (1815). With all the tumault, the less traumatic American Revolution came to be largely ignored in Europe. This was one of several 1930s films about the French Recolution. Two other important films were "Tale of Two Cities" and the Scarlet Pimpernel".

Cast

Marie Antoinette was played by Norma Shearer, probably her greatest role. Louis XV was enacted by John Barrymore, and his grandson, who became Louis XVI, was played superbly by Robert Morely in his debut as a screen actor. The small son of Louis XVI (the Dauphin) was played by the child actor, Scotty Beckett. Scotty played in a lot of films like this where a child was needed, but was not the star of the film. Here Scotty was about 8-9 years old and had been making movies for about 5 years. Often he played the leads as a child. Scotty Beckett, one of the most prominent child actors of his day, is quite affecting as the boy who is sometimes referred to by historians as "Louis XVII" even though he died as a child in prison and never came to the throne. In the film he wears a skeleton suit consisting of a short jacket worn over an elaborate white ruffled shirt with close-fitting trousers that extend to his ankles. He wears white stockings and slipper-like shoes. For travelling, he wears a great cloak over his skeleton suit and a tri-cornered hat. He wears his hair long but, unlike his parents, wears no wig. The carious scenes are crowded with extras and many excellently played minor roles including Gladys George as Mme. du Barry and Alma Kruger as the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. Joseph Schildkraut plays the foppish and grasping brother of Louis XVI, who sneers at Louis and tries unsuccessfully to replace him as king.


Figure 2.--Here the Dauphin (Louis XVII) takes a final leave of his mother, Marie Antoinette, after the Committee of Public Safety, which has condemned her to death, insists on removing the child from her custody. Louis is one of the most tragic children of history. His life after he was removed from his mother was a horror story, although that is not depicted in the film.

Plot

Marie Antoinette was born an Austrian princess (1755). The film covers her life from The film starts when her mother the Emperess Maria Theressa tells her that she is to go to Versailles to become Louis's bride and someday probably Queen of France. She was only 14-year old when she was betrothed and married to the French Dauphin, grandson of Louis XV (1770). She is portrayed with great sympathy in the film, which goes on for two and half hours. The depiction is fairly accurate. I tend to think this is not aeflection of Hollywood's devotion to accurate history, but rather a desire to paint a movie heroine in sympathetic terms. After all, Hollywood didn't generally make films about villans. The Queen is shown as loyal to her husband and very faithful despite a cold beginning to the marriage and the failure to have children for a long period. This caused all kinds of rumors at court. The reason was mainly because of Louis's lack of interest in the passionate side of marriage. The film version here gives prominence to the Swedish count, Axel de Fersen, who is supposed to have had a love affair with the French queen and who tried unsuccessfully to save her from the guillotine. There was such an individual who was very close to the Queem. Whether they had actually consumated a love affair is not known with any certainty. The love affair with Count de Fersen is not portrayed as a sexual liason--only a romantic friendship. The Queen is even depicted as sympathetic to the poor and badly misunderstood by them. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but the Queen by the 11780s was beginning to see that her attitides had political consequences. A diamond necklace is made for her--done to put her in a politcally bad light--and she rejects the necklace as frivolous at a time when the French peasants don't have enough bread. There was an actual diamond neclace affair, but her concern with the pwasants is probably oversone in the film. The "Let them eat cake" remark, which she never really made, is omitted. One might criticize the film for being a bit sentimental about the royal couple, but Louis and the Queen both die with dignity, even bravery. The children of course are introduced to make Marie Antoinette's suffering even more acute at the end than it would otherwise have been. The Dauphin was played by a young Scotty Beckett. She was beheaded for treason during the Great Terror of the French Revolution. Actually she was charged with many offenses including false charges of unspeakable acts with her son. These were charges were baseless and meant by Revolutionary officials to defame her. There is no doubt, however, that she was guilty of treason to the French Government. She of course did not consider it to be the legitimate government. The film ends with her execution at La Place de la Revolution in Paris (now called of course La Place de la Concorde)

Costuming

The costuming is opulent, although much of the finery is lost without color. The Dauphin is accurately depicted in a skeleton suit, although it seems more like a 19th style skeleton suit to me. I'm not at all sure as to how his hair is depicted. The portraits I have seen show shorter hair.

French Royal Family

The film depicts four members of the French royal family. When viewing films like this, you are never sure what is fact and what is Hollywood fiction. HBC has developed images on these individuals in the Royalty section. The film itself is of course about Queen Marie Antonitte. She was the wife of King Louis XVI. Their first son Louis-Joseph died before the Revolution. Their second son Louis-Charles (Louis XVVII) is depicted in the film as well as a daughter, Marie Therese (1778-1851), named after the Empress who managed to survive the Revolution. A second daughter died in infancy and is not depicted in the film. Queen Marie even before the Revolution was very unpopular in France. Even the Court spread rumors about her and France's underground press spread even more scandalous rumors. The canard "Let them eat cake," is but one of those false charges. Many were based on extravagant spending. There were far more scandalous acusations, including rumors of a sexual nature were also spread.






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Created: 12:20 AM 12/3/2006
Last updated: 12:20 AM 12/3/2006