Based upon the 1932 biography of the ill-fated Queen of France by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, it had its Los Angeles premiere at the legendary Carthay Circle Theatre, where the landscaping was specially decorated for the event.

His widow, Norma Shearer, remained committed to the project even while her enthusiasm for her film career in general was waning following his death.

Marie is excited to become the future Queen of France but grows dismayed upon learning her husband is a shy man more at home with locksmithing than attending parties.

After countless attempts to please him, Louis reveals he cannot produce heirs, prompting Marie to associate with the power-hungry Duc d'Orleans.

On her second wedding anniversary, Madame du Barry, King Louis XV's mistress, gifts Marie with an empty cradle and a poem critical of her inability to produce an heir.

Despite Marie's attempts to continue their relationship, Fersen refuses to risk ruining her reputation and tells her to fulfill her duties as France's Queen.

Years later, when the Dauphin has grown into a young boy, peasants throw stones at Marie's carriage while she is taking her children for a drive.

Fersen returns with a plan of escape, but when the Dauphin tells a guard that his father is a locksmith, the King is recognised and arrested after a former priest at Versailles identifies him.

As Marie gazes at the guillotine she thinks back to the day her mother told her that she was to become the future queen of France, and how excited she was at the prospect.

However, a clash with Louis B. Mayer after the failure of her film Operator 13 led to the couple switching to neighboring Warner Bros. Norma Shearer was the wife of MGM studio head Irving Thalberg when this project was greenlit sometime before his death in 1936.

After calculating the huge expense of costume and set design, plans to render the film in color were scrapped because of concerns that adding Technicolor[6] would further inflate the budget.

[7] The film premiered on July 8, 1938, at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles following a lavish outdoor red carpet ceremony for which the nearby lawns were transformed into an imitation of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

The premiere, including the preparations of the grounds, is depicted in a short black-and-white newsreel film, Hollywood Goes to Town, produced by M-G-M.