This film reminded me of another MGM costume drama--MARIE ANTOINETTE. Both were late 30s MGM epics with lavish costumes and the full MGM treatment (the typical high-budget music, dialog, pacing, direction, etc.). And, both were pretty boring--at least to me. Now I know these films were well-received at the time and they both starred MGM divas (Norma Shearer in MARIE ANTOINETTE and Greta Garbo in CONQUEST), but didn't change the fact that these were very stagy and unengaging films. To put this in some perspective, I love movies from Hollywoods Golden Age and I am a history teacher and I still was bored to tears by the films. I think it is films like these that got students to really hate history! My advice--watch a documentary about Napoleon or watch a romance but don't combine the two into a static and unappealing film like this.
Review of Conquest
