Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Robert Morley, Anita Louise, Joseph Schildkraut, Gladys George, and Henry Stephenson. Based upon the 1933 biography of the ill-fated Queen of France by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, it had its Los Angeles premiere at the legendary Carthay Circle Theatre, where the landscaping was specially decorated for the event.
The film was the last project of Irving Thalberg who died in 1936 while it was in the planning stage. His widow Norma Shearer remained committed to the project even while her enthusiasm for her film career in general was waning following his death.
With a budget close to two million dollars, it was one of the most expensive films of the 1930s, but also one of the biggest successes. Apart from the opulent Hollywood sets, it featured scenes filmed on location at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris; this was reported to have been the first time a film crew was allowed to film in the grounds of the palace.
