Desiree (1954)

In 1794 Marseilles, a young girl (Jean Simmons) falls in love with an ambitious Corsican General (Marlon Brando) and becomes engaged to him. But as months pass without hearing from him, she discovers he's engaged to a wealthy Frenchwoman (Merle Oberon, very good). But their relationship doesn't end there as their destiny, he as the emperor of France and she as the Crown Princess of Sweden, seems ordained to be intertwined. Based on the best selling historical novel by Annemarie Selinko and directed by Henry Koster (FLOWER DRUM SONG). Visually lavish and opulent (Oscar nominations for its art direction and the gorgeous Rene Hubert costumes), this rather stodgy historical epic is based on the best selling novel by Annemarie Selinko. It's a highly fictionalized version of the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and his one time fiancee, Desiree Clary. Brando doesn't seem to be taking his performance very seriously (he took the role to avoid a lawsuit when Fox threatened to sue him for bowing out of THE EGYPTIAN) but that doesn't prevent him from having some fun with it. Simmons has never looked more beautiful on screen but it's one of her few weak performances. The film was a big hit outgrossing Brando's other 1954 film, ON THE WATERFRONT. The eye popping CinemaScope lensing is by Milton Krasner and the strong underscore by Alex North. With Michael Rennie, Cameron Mitchell, Carolyn Jones, Elizabeth Sellars, Cathleen Nesbitt, Evelyn Varden, John Hoyt, Richard Deacon, Isobel Elsom, Edith Evanson and Alan Napier.