REVIEW: Desiree (Blu-ray)

THE FILM:

Posted on: 12:06 pm, April 11, 2012, by oursayonbluray

Looking at the early roles of Marlon Brando, one is immediately struck by the stable of 

colorful and larger than life characters the actor launched his film career with. Bursting 

on to the silver screen as Stanley Kowalski recreating his acclaimed stage performance 

from A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, he followed that with a Mexican revolutionary 

(in VIVA ZAPATA!), a Shakespearean villain (in JULIUS CAESAR), an iconic biker rebel 

(in THE WILD ONE) and a tormented everyman in his Academy Award winning turn in ON 

THE WATERFRONT. Being one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, Brando had his choice 

of roles. While he was initially lined up to play the lead in Michael Curtiz’s THE EGYPTIAN,

 he pulled out of that project in favor of another lavish Cinemascope production where could 

play one of the most iconic figures in history, Napoleon Bonaparte, in the adaptation of the 

popular novel, DESIREE.

The title character is Desiree Clary (played by Jean Simmons), the beautiful and determined 

daughter of a wealthy silk merchant who is actively searching for appropriate husbands for 

herself and her sister. She meets and invites a dashing Corsican, Joseph (Cameron Mitchell), 

home to meet her sister and he brings his brother, Napoleon, with him. The poor but 

ambitious brothers are immediately smitten with the sisters (and their dowry) and the 

politically navigated romance between Desiree and Napoleon is launched. The couple 

clearly states their love for each other but the general’s career ambition overrides his 

emotional wants. Desiree and Napoleon each go their separate (and opposing) ways 

with other spouses and the film chronicles the incidents where they come into contact 

with each other from Napoleons rise through his surrender and exile.

DESIREE is certainly an opulent and lavish production, as all of 20^th Century Fox’s 

Cinemascope films of the era were. It even received Academy Award nominations for 

its production design and costumes. Simmons and Brando deliver great performances 

and have good chemistry, each exuding lustful ambition in their own way, however the 

film feels oddly passionless when it comes to the actual romance between Desiree and 

Napoleon. The couple elicit great electricity when they clash but the undercurrent of 

emotional lust never really sticks, certainly throughout the second half of the movie. 

Napoleons marriage proposal in the beginning is a grand gesture and Desiree definitely 

delivers on the emotional front, but the longing the two characters feel for each other, or 

are supposed to feel for each other, never really translates to the audience.

DESIREE is a good solid drama filled with excellent performances (Michael Rennie 

and Merle Oberon stick out particularly as Desiree’s future husband Jean-Baptiste 

Bernadotte and the Empress Josephine Bonaparte respectively), but just falls short of 

the fire needed to make it the great tragic romance it should be.

THE DISC:
Once again Twilight Time delivers an absolutely beautiful transfer. The anamorphic 

2.55 picture is very crisp showing excellent detail and texture. Color is generally very 

warm and pleasing and very well saturated. Detail is sharp showing off great texture 

in the film’s beautiful costumes. Some very minor source print damage is evident 

(specks and some very slight color variance) but minor is the key word there as this 

is an overall superb looking picture.

The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 mix delivers a very nice immersive atmosphere. 

Ambient sounds are well placed opening up the sound field while dialogue and Alex 

North’s epic score come through crystal clear. Chalk up another winner for Twilight Time!

THE EXTRAS:
Alex North’s wonderful score sounds great in the film and is available on an isolated 

lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track.

The original theatrical trailer rounds out the goodies.

MY SAY:
A solid cast and lavish production design make DESIREE worth checking out even if 

the epic story falls a little short on the emotional level.

** DESIREE is available exclusively via www.screenarchives.com… an excellent 

soundtrack and film specialty site **

Twilight Time / 1954 / 110 mins / NR