Comparisons are bound to be made between this and "Juarez" being made, simultaneously, across Los Angeles - both focussing on the ill-fated Maxililian and Carlotta - the first, last and only Emperor and Empress of Mexico. Installed by Emperor Napoleon III (Guy Post) the couple reluctantly arrive in their new Empire assured of the support of the local population, and of the military of the French. It doesn't take them very long to realise that both promises are somewhat hollow - especially after their chief military advisor "Bazaine" (Lionel Atwill) manages to get Maxilmilian (Conrad Nagel) to sign a pretty Draconian degree which only serves to galvanise the independent spirit of his people. Carlotta (Medea de Novaro) hardly features at all in this rather mis-titled drama - she heads home to plead their hopeless cause with Napoleon, only for her insistence to fall on deaf ears and for her to remain, without her husband, slowly going out of her mind with grief and loneliness. It pays more than a passing nod to the history - the restoration of the Republic under Juarez (Jason Robards Snr.) and of the grizzly fate that awaited the erstwhile monarch - and the performance from Nagel injects some of the pride and integrity of a man used as a pawn as surely as if he were nought but a foot soldier (in a more fancy uniform) in his cousin's guard. The narrative is a bit too chronological, and the performances and writing are only really efficient, but it's still well made and good looking with the glamorous de Novara (and her very thick accent) enjoyable to watch too.
2 Reviews
The other Mexican revolution film.
mark.waltz3 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
An independently made film that had the rotten luck of being released the same year as Warner Brothers' big epic "Juarez", this was purchased by them and given scant release and thus unjustly forgotten. Empress Carlotta, as played by Medea de Novara (an actress from Liechtenstein), is missing a halo in her saint like performance as the Belgian princess, married to Austrian prince Maximilian, who is made emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III (Guy Bates Post) but not accepted by the people who are loyal only to Juarez (Jason Robards Sr.). Carlotta, seeking help from Napoleon, is rejected, and this leads her on the long road to insanity, even though she has adopted a Mexican prince in hopes of winning the love of the people.
It's difficult to tell such an epic story and get everything especially in a limited time of 90 minutes so this film feels incomplete even though it does cover a lot of the basic history. Lionel Atwill is great as the Mexican General loyal to the emperor who would see 2/3 of the nation slaughtered in order to keep it, and Frank McGlynn Sr. Is an exact carbon copy of Abraham Lincoln. As Empress Eugenie, Evelyn Brent looks exactly as Gale Sondergaard did in "Juarez". De Novara Is completely different than Bette Davis, speaking her lines as if constantly in prayer. She's the one deficiency in an other wise excellent film. You could watch both this and "Juarez" back to back and not see the same film other than the fact that they both include the same characters.
It's difficult to tell such an epic story and get everything especially in a limited time of 90 minutes so this film feels incomplete even though it does cover a lot of the basic history. Lionel Atwill is great as the Mexican General loyal to the emperor who would see 2/3 of the nation slaughtered in order to keep it, and Frank McGlynn Sr. Is an exact carbon copy of Abraham Lincoln. As Empress Eugenie, Evelyn Brent looks exactly as Gale Sondergaard did in "Juarez". De Novara Is completely different than Bette Davis, speaking her lines as if constantly in prayer. She's the one deficiency in an other wise excellent film. You could watch both this and "Juarez" back to back and not see the same film other than the fact that they both include the same characters.
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