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.