i first saw this excellent and powerful story on television sometime in the late 50 or early 60 and and have not see it since until i catch it on television more than 40 year later . the powerful impression the story make on me have not dim with the passage of time . norma shearer and who here be toward the end of her career and put in a topnotch performance a the doomed and conflict dauphine and queen and which serve a the core of the film . robert morley give u a superb portrayal of the dim and well mean but hopelessly incompetent louis xvi . joseph schildkraut portrayal of dorleans be a classic study in unctuous treachery . john barrymore shine in his short appearance a the dauphin father . the weak major part and for my money and be tyrone power and whose box office appeal as far a i can see seem to have be root more in sex appeal than in act ability . not be sufficiently verse in the actual history i suspect the relation between marie and power count axel be blow up or perhaps even invent for draw power and and indeed i find the film weak part the rather purple moment between the two which do seem to encroach into the realm of melodrama . however and the powerful closing scene of marie prematurely old and broken ascend the gibbet with memory of her girlish fancy ( think of it . i shall be queen of france . ) be one of the great moment of cinema . altogether a rich and sumptuous and multifacted portrayal of a tragic story which do pretty well by the historical reality .