Marie Antoinette

Film: Marie Antoinette
Year: 1938
Cast: Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Robert Morley, Anita Louise, Joseph Schildkraut, Gladys George, Henry Stevenson, Cora Witherspoon, Barnett Parker, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniel, Leonard Penn, Albert Dekker, Alma Kruger, Joseph Calleia, Marilyn Knowlden, Scotty Beckett, George Meeker, Charles Waldron
Director: WS Van Dyke
Nominations: Best Actress (Shearer), Best Supporting Actor (Morley), Best Original Score, Best Art Direction

Wait, wait, wait, what's going on here? A 1938 film with French characters and the decidedly not-French actors Walter Kingsford and Paul Harvey are nowhere to be found? Wasn't there some sort of law that they had to be included?

At least Joseph Calleia is back, if in a small role. Charles Waldron from Kentucky is here, too, again in a smaller role. In fact I have yet to see a movie from this year that didn't share actors with at least one other, and I've only seen six (I've watched The Adventures of Robin Hood many times in the past). There weren't that many actors in the studio industry back then, were there?

Man, what was it with 1938 and this fascination with France? In one single category alone, we've had a movie about a French criminal hiding from the French police while longing to go home to Paris, a movie set during the Burgundian Rebellion focusing on a well-known French poet, and now one based on the tragic life of the woman who might very well be the most well-known French historical figure ever...and she wasn't even French!

Norma Shearer stars here in the title role, playing Marie as a sympathetic, lonely young woman who's eternally frustrated in her royal husband's lack of interest in her, lack of spine, lack of social graces, lack of almost anything. She's quickly drawn into court intrigue, wanting nothing more than to be queen some day and have royal babies, but realizing she's stuck with a husband who has no interest in her, an oily, snake-like noble cousin Duc de Orleans (Joseph Schildkraut) trying to draw her into his intrigues, and ruin her and usurp the throne if he can't use her, a rival who doesn't pull any punches (Gladys George) and a king (John Barrymore) clearly not certain he made the right marriage contract.

Running from all this, she lands in the arms of Swedish Count Axel von Fersen (Tyrone Power), trying to ground herself in him and use him to strengthen her spirit. But it can't work, because, naturally, as the new queen, no hint of scandal can be allowed, so he runs off to America to keep her reputation safe. At around the same time, her manchild of a husband, the now King Louis XVI (Robert Morley) starts to feel genuine affection for her. Children finally come, and then revolution comes knocking...

We know the story of Marie Antoinette. The question is how does the movie bring that story to life? The answer is...it's kinda predictable. This was a historical drama made back when historical dramas didn't really try to glitz up the lives of the figures presented. It just told their story. No, it didn't always get the facts straight, or left stuff out, etc., but you didn't get stuff like the more recent Marie Antoinette from Sophia Coppola, who used deliberately anachronistic acting styles, music (including modern songs on the soundtrack) and even costumes to a degree, to try and communicate the historical tale to modern audiences. This one's just a straight costume drama, and while that's fine, it looks to me just like a dozen other costume dramas out there.

Norma Shearer gives a terrific performance as Marie, and I understand it was her favorite role of her career, which is saying something as this is Norma Shearer, one of the biggest stars of her day. This was her fifth and final nominated performance (she was already a winner by this point), and the first of her's I've seen. She's able to make Marie seem sympathetic even as she cheats on her husband and behaves like a frivolous child. We can believe it when she matures into a benevolent ruler even if it comes too late to make a difference.

As for Robert Morley, I'll admit that I'm primarily familiar with him as the posh English gentleman in The Great Muppet Caper who directs Kermit and friends to the Happiness Hotel. I'd actually forgotten this was the same man. As King Louis XVI (two King Louis's in the same year? At least they weren't the same king), he's doughy, dour and dopey, at least at first, and begins to grow up (slightly) only when he becomes king himself and a father to two children with Marie. He kinda looks like Jonah Hill crossed with Timothy Spall, with his hapless stare and double-chin. He's pitiful, but you can't help but feel a little sorry for him. He's one of the few characters surrounding the queen who has no malice in him. Unfortunately he also has little else in him at all. Morley does a fine job with the pathetic character, making us care about him even though the film goes to great pains to show how little respect he commands.

I won't pretend the ending isn't quite sad. For some reason most of my education on this subject painted Marie Antoinette as a callous aristocrat who couldn't have cared less about her poor subjects ("let them eat cake"), and was still insisting she was the queen and would be obeyed as she was being led to the executioner. That's certainly not the Marie we see here. The last 40 minutes or so focus on her attempts to flee with her family and protect her children. It's quite moving, but I've always had a real hang-up about children being hurt, even if I know it's just a movie. It's easy for me to think that if I could have witnessed the real event, it would have looked like this; Marie weeping and pleading as her son is ripped from her arms. The final shot is well-done in its directly contrasting Marie at the film's start and her final moments.

Next post is my own personal "awards" as I rank the performances and pick which one I think deserved the win, and if any in fact might not have deserved their nominations. After that, it's time for another year and category.