| Conquest | |
|---|---|
 Scene from the film |
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| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Bernard H. Hyman |
| Written by | S. N. Behrman Salka Viertel Waclaw Gasiorowski (novel) |
| Starring | Greta Garbo Charles Boyer Reginald Owen Alan Marshal |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Editing by | Tom Held |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | 1937 |
| Running time | 113 min |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Conquest (also called Marie Walewska) is a 1937 film which tells the story of a Polish countess who becomes the mistress of Napoleon in order to influence his actions towards her homeland. It stars Greta Garbo, Charles Boyer, Reginald Owen, Alan Marshal, Henry Stephenson, Leif Erickson, Dame May Whitty, George Zucco, and Maria Ouspenskaya. The movie was adapted by S. N. Behrman, Samuel Hoffenstein, Helen Jerome and Salka Viertel from the novel Pani Walewska by Waclaw Gasiorowski. It was directed by Clarence Brown and Gustav Machatý (uncredited). It was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Charles Boyer) and Best Art Direction. This movie was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's biggest money losing movie prior to 1949.
Plot
After a brief informal meeting two months earlier when they were impressed with each other, Countess Marie Walewska (Garbo) formally meets Napoleon Bonaparte (Boyer) at a ball in Warsaw. When Napoleon notes her husband, Count Walewski (Stephenson), is three times her age, and as he is taken with her charms, he unsuccessfully tries to seduce her. She ignores his frequent letters and flowers until a few grim Polish leaders led by Senator Malachowski (Zucco) urge her to give into his desires as a personal sacrifice in order to save Poland. She goes to him despite the humiliation of her husband, who leaves for Rome to annul their marriage. They are extremely happy for a while; Napoleon divorces childless Empress Josephine and Marie eventually becomes pregnant. She is about to tell Napoleon about her baby when he tells her he decided to marry Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. He explains it will be a political marriage to insure his future son could rule securely with Hapsburg blood in him. It will not affect their relationship, he says, but Marie Walewska leaves to have her baby alone without telling Napoleon she is expecting his child.
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