Marie Antoinette (1938) :
Brief Review -
Norma Shearer is a delight to watch, even in the role of a disenchanted, ill-fated, and despicable queen. The man behind "The Thin Man" and "The Prisoner Of Zenda" (uncredited), W. S. Van Dyke, took on Marie Antoinette's biography and almost did it justice. Actually, the life of Antoinette wasn't fair enough to make a good storyline for a feature film, so I wouldn't dare blame Dyke for that. He has made so many films in his career but hardly few of them are recognised and The Thin Man series is on top, even though, my personal favourite of his is "I Love You Again" (1940), that's of course, besides The Prisoner Of Zenda. So I wasn't expecting much from Marie Antoinette, but somewhere in the beginning, it felt good and increased my expectations. However, my expectations were quickly brought down in the next two hours. The film starts off with a young and exciting Maria Antonia, who is eager to get married and has so many dreams. She is on cloud nine when she learns that she is to be queen of France. Here, you see an enchanting girl who seems pretty smart too. But soon after her marriage and disappointing husband, she becomes ill-fated, greedy, and despicable. She is loyal to her husband but still loves another man while having one more platonic affair with a cousin. Some queen, wasn't she? Her husband couldn't produce kids, but I don't know what happens later-that they bear a daughter and a son and live a quite happy married life too (dare you, she still loves the Austrian inside of her heart). After you are done with all these uninteresting and dumb affairs, there is a big fuss over the necklace. I can't believe that people back then were so dumb and illiterate. The intelligent quota (IQ) developed better in the 20th century, I assume. I don't know what others have liked about this film, but I just can't accept a cockeyed King and Queen's stories when there are so many other inspiring tales to cherish.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Norma Shearer is a delight to watch, even in the role of a disenchanted, ill-fated, and despicable queen. The man behind "The Thin Man" and "The Prisoner Of Zenda" (uncredited), W. S. Van Dyke, took on Marie Antoinette's biography and almost did it justice. Actually, the life of Antoinette wasn't fair enough to make a good storyline for a feature film, so I wouldn't dare blame Dyke for that. He has made so many films in his career but hardly few of them are recognised and The Thin Man series is on top, even though, my personal favourite of his is "I Love You Again" (1940), that's of course, besides The Prisoner Of Zenda. So I wasn't expecting much from Marie Antoinette, but somewhere in the beginning, it felt good and increased my expectations. However, my expectations were quickly brought down in the next two hours. The film starts off with a young and exciting Maria Antonia, who is eager to get married and has so many dreams. She is on cloud nine when she learns that she is to be queen of France. Here, you see an enchanting girl who seems pretty smart too. But soon after her marriage and disappointing husband, she becomes ill-fated, greedy, and despicable. She is loyal to her husband but still loves another man while having one more platonic affair with a cousin. Some queen, wasn't she? Her husband couldn't produce kids, but I don't know what happens later-that they bear a daughter and a son and live a quite happy married life too (dare you, she still loves the Austrian inside of her heart). After you are done with all these uninteresting and dumb affairs, there is a big fuss over the necklace. I can't believe that people back then were so dumb and illiterate. The intelligent quota (IQ) developed better in the 20th century, I assume. I don't know what others have liked about this film, but I just can't accept a cockeyed King and Queen's stories when there are so many other inspiring tales to cherish.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.