Judging by the squadrons of bewigged waiters who invaded every bedroom scene and by the insipid acting of Ruth Chatterton, one might say that the private life of Napoleon and Josephine was neither very private nor very lively. In fact, it must have easily been the most prosaic, uninteresting marriage since the birth of modern times.

Ruth Chatterton proves once again that her career should have ended with the advent of the talkies and that her figure ceased to be alluring some fifteen years ago. As for Pierre Blanchar, he is an unconvincing Napoleon to begin with. A habit of throwing extra r's into every word he utters does not serve to make him any more prepossessing.