Madame DuBarry (1919)

The story of Madame DuBarry, the mistress of Louis XV of France, and her loves in the time of the French revolution.

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Norbert Falk, Hanns Kräly

Stars:

Pola Negri, Emil Jannings, Harry Liedtke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pola Negri	...	Jeanne Vaubernier - later Madame Dubarry
Emil Jannings	...	König Louis XV
Harry Liedtke	...	Armand De Foix
Eduard von Winterstein	...	Graf Jean Dubarry
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Minister Choiseul
Else Berna	...	Graefin Gramont
Fred Immler	...	Richelieu
Gustav Czimeg	...	Aiguillon
Karl Platen	...	Guillaume Dubarry
Bernhard Goetzke	...	Revolutionär
Magnus Stifter	...	Don Diego
Paul Biensfeldt	...	Lebel
Willy Kaiser-Heyl	...	Oberst der Wache
Alexander Ekert	...	Paillet (as Alexander Eckert)
Robert Sortsch-Pla

Storyline

The story of Madame DuBarry, the mistress of Louis XV of France, and her loves in the time of the French revolution.

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Plot Keywords:

french revolution | mistress | foot fetish | king louis xv | 18th century | 

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Taglines:

Dramatic! Beauty! Splendor! (1928 re-issue poster)

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

26 November 1919 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Passion

Filming Locations:

Sans-Souci, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Projektions-AG Union (PAGU)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 113 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Madame Du Barry (1934)

User Reviews

Lacks the "Lubitsch Touch".

This early effort by Lubitsch is disappointingly heavy going, lacking the famous light touch of his later films. This is full on melodrama with little sense of fun, or history, as it tells the story of Louis xv's lover. Apparently this film caused a sensation when, re-titled "Passion", it was released in the USA. It also established its star and director on the international scene. It's very hard to understand why.

Negri and Jannings are quite good in the lead roles but are given few opportunities to shine. The camerawork is stilted and there is little in the way of visual interest, despite some large crowd scenes and lavish sets and costumes. It's all rather dull.

The print I saw ran at 110 minutes, with a relentlessly heavy music score, and was badly washed out. This made it quite hard to distinguish some of the characters as their powdered wigs changed them into white blobs - and some of the overly long letters were unreadable.