I was looking forward to watch this rather unknown historical tale. Especially when I saw on the packaging of the old tape I came across that there would be no less than Jean Marais, George Marchal and Jean Pierre Cassel as supportive actors for what was about to be an ambitious film adaptation of the short lived heir of the Emperor Napoleon.
Alas! they all do some short appearances and the whole thing has to be born on the poor Bernard Verley's shoulders. The uncharismatic young actor can hardly deliver a line without wining (even if it has to be typical of the character). You just can't wait to see him die, which takes more than 100 minutes to happen, by the way. All in all, production values are pretty lame in spite of the fact that most of the film was shot in some genuine historical settings, which ARE really impressive but don't do the trick though.
Sacha Gutiry would probably have done something interesting out of this subject. Dialogues establish historical facts, but no humanity actually comes out of this poorly done puppet play. Hardely good enough to make a decent TV movie of the 60s. Even colors are not so good (maybe the copy I watched was to blame). Not much recommended... only to go to sleep maybe.
