M.G.M.’s opulent costume drama Marie Antoinette stars Norma Shearer in the title role, as the Austrian princess who is married off to Louis Auguste (Robert Morley), the Dauphin of France.
Marie, by becoming the Dauphine, finds herself plopped smack in the middle of French palace intrigue between Louis’s father King Louis XV (John Barrymore) and his scheming cousin, the Duke of Orleans (Joseph Schildkraut).
Louis is unable to consummate his marriage, and so Marie compensates with parties, gambling her fortune away. In a casino, she meets the handsome Count Axel de Fersen (Tyrone Power) and they have an affair.
When Louis XV dies and Louis becomes King Louis XVI, Fersen takes his leave; he cannot carry on an affair with the Queen of France.
Marie vows to be a great queen and remain loyal to her king, but the Duke of Orleans is plotting against Louis XVI with some revolutionary radicals.
The monarchy is overthrown, and Louis and Marie are thrown into prison, awaiting execution. But when word gets back to Fersen, he travels back to France in an attempt to rescue Marie.
Production values are lavish, especially cinematography by William Daniels and costumes by Adrian.
Robert Morley received an Oscar nod for his first screen role, which originally was intended for Charles Laughton
Oscar Nominations: 4
Actress: Norma Shearer
Supporting Actor: Robert Morley
Interior decoration: Cedric Gibbons
Original Score: Herbert Stothart
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context
The winner of the Best Actress Oscar was Bette Davis for Jezebel.
The Supporting Actor Oscar went to Walter Brennan for Kentucky.
The Adventures of Robin Hood won the Art Direction (Carl J. Weyl) and the Score (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) Oscars
Running time: 160 minutes.
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke.
Written by Claudine West, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Wajda, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, based on the book by Stefan Zweig
Released: August 26, 1938
DVD: October 10, 2006
MGM
