Madame Dubarry

Madame Dubarry (1919) is a very early movie by director Ernst Lubitsch, and a glorious piece it is, too! However, despite its lavish budget one cannot fail to notice that the German locations hardly pass for late 18th century France! That said, the costumes more than make up for it!

Lubitsch versatility as a director could never be undiminished. His rather splendid career (paralleling that of a few other illustrious German directors, i.e. Lang and Sternberg) was a long and interesting one. The title character may be seen as the indirect and albeit unwitting catalyst for the French Revolution. Although Dubarry was no Marie Antoinette, she had the misfortune to share the same fate: an appointment with Madame Guillotine! Dubarry is coquettishly played by Polish/German vamp Pola Negri – who soon finds herself climbing the social ladder virtually by default… and to the very TOP she goes.
From a humble and perky milliner’s apprentice named Jeanne Vaubernier to none other than the mistress of the all-powerful King Louis XV (Emil Jannings) this of course is not altogether an untroubled path. The dear girl has a decent but poor lover by the name of Armand De Foix (Harry Liedtke) who kills an aristocratic rival and as a result is condemned to be executed. However, by this time the lovely Jeanne has by a series of flukes found herself in a position of rising power. But in order to become officially introduced into the King’s court, she must have an aristocratic title. Of course, this turns out to be a comparative piece of cake for our seductress – and soon she’s married off to the older (and titled) brother of one of the Dubarry siblings.

Despite her multiple liaisons with the aristocracy, she still has a soft spot for her Armand and begs the King to pardon him and forces him to promote her former lover to lieutenant so that she can be near him. However, once she reveals to Armand what she has done to spare his life, he is not grateful – being an idealistic revolutionary. Au contraire, he is appalled by what he hers of her escapades and wishes to have nothing to do with her (ungrateful bastard!).
To cut a long story short, Madame Dubarry not only falls out of favour with Armand and the rest of her own folk, but also with countless people at court who resent her for her quick rise to power. None of this is helped by the fact that the King succumbs to smallpox, leaving Dubarry in a rather vulnerable position and the mob are now at their frenzied height… and pretty soon heads will roll…

Negri is enchanting as Dubarry and is well complemented by the performance by the great Jannings as the King. It’s a pity about the ‘blacked-up’ servants who quite frankly look ridiculous – apparently didn’t appear to have any black actors in Germany at that time.

Eureka! have done a remarkably good job at restoring this HD print (available on Blu-ray and DVD), and thrown in some SPECIAL FEATURES including 36-page booklet and Lubitsch’s earliest surviving film ‘Als ich tot war’ (1916). This silent film contains French/German inter-titles.