A notorious flop in its day, this historical drama was slammed for not only changing history and for its strange casting. In retrospect, Paulette Goddard is perfectly cast as Lucretia Borgia, the noble woman whose historical reputation has cast her as a poisonous murderess. While the saga of the Borgia's has been recently explored as a miniseries, this movie has become a hidden mystery, but once discovered, I found that while somewhat flawed, it is basically best viewed as "fun trash".
I must admit that I laughed hysterically upon seeing MacDonald Carey as Lucretia's brother, looking much like Rasputin, and seemingly in lust with his own sister. This romanticizes the motivation for Lucretia's deadly reputation, seeking vengeance on those who murdered the man she loved. That brings in villain Raymond Burr and hero John Lund, all decked out in costumes co-designed by the film's director, Mitchell Leisen.
It's obvious in the film's set design, art direction and costume creation that Leisen was going for the look that Josef von Sternberg had given Dietrich years before. I'm sure this was sumptuous to look at on screen, and I am disappointed that this was not done in Technicolor. Goddard is sincere in her performance, so I call this an interesting fictional view of the facts, Hollywood-ized, as they say, and not as laughably bad as I had been lead to believe.
I must admit that I laughed hysterically upon seeing MacDonald Carey as Lucretia's brother, looking much like Rasputin, and seemingly in lust with his own sister. This romanticizes the motivation for Lucretia's deadly reputation, seeking vengeance on those who murdered the man she loved. That brings in villain Raymond Burr and hero John Lund, all decked out in costumes co-designed by the film's director, Mitchell Leisen.
It's obvious in the film's set design, art direction and costume creation that Leisen was going for the look that Josef von Sternberg had given Dietrich years before. I'm sure this was sumptuous to look at on screen, and I am disappointed that this was not done in Technicolor. Goddard is sincere in her performance, so I call this an interesting fictional view of the facts, Hollywood-ized, as they say, and not as laughably bad as I had been lead to believe.