While this may share the same source material as Patrice Chéreau's picture of the same name to follow forty years later, there's no mistaking that Jean Dréville's rendition of 'La reine Margot' is its own picture. Likewise adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, this 1954 film boasts the same narrative essence. It can claim beautiful sets and filming locations, and elaborate costume design, in imparting a tale of murder, massacre, deceit, manipulation, and backstabbing. And recognizing that the film-making sensibilities of the 50s were not the same as those of the 90s, early cinematic master Abel Gance penned a screenplay that deftly communicates the story while maintaining a feeling of restraint, and mostly declining sensationalism. There are sturdy foundations here.
Unfortunately, for all that Chéreau and Dréville share in common, the utmost high quality is not entirely among them. Dréville's feature is good, and there are some moments that are done especially well in one fashion or another. Yet that broad declination of sensationalism also results in a presentation so even-keeled that dynamics, urgency, and major drama are diminished in the process. This is in addition to Dréville's direction coming across as a little weak, or even scattered, further dampening the weight of the tale at hand - and whether Gance's adaptation or Dréville's direction is more to blame I don't know, but there are points where it seems to me like this 1954 movie is deficient in basic details like identifying characters, or the relationships between them, or even conveying the plot with total fidelity.
The acting is fine, but struggles to make much of an impression through the flatness that reduces the drama. The editing is sometimes quite curt, and rough around the edges, and there are choices here even of lighting that raise a curious eyebrow. Fantastic as the sets are, every now and again the artifice is more readily evident; I do quite like the costume design, though it's noteworthy that the tights portend the more jovial gaiety that defines no few sequences as this 'La reine Margot' carries itself in no small measure more like an outright swashbuckler. Where that isn't true, what is true is that this feels like a relatively simple, unbothered costume drama, and one that just particularly make the audience feel the import of the saga on hand. It's not bad - but nor is it especially noteworthy or remarkable.
I did enjoy watching, on some level. But there's nothing about this so striking as to demand viewership, and moreover, even at its best it comes off as a title that would take low priority standing next to most anything else one could watch. Stand it next to Chéreau's film and, well, the very word "comparison" seems unfair. It's a decent way to spend a couple hours, but nothing you need to go out of your way to see. 1954's 'La reine Margot' is worth checking out and remembering - with the caveat that it's just not everything that it could have been.
