Madame Dubarry

Though best known today for his comedic touch (The Shop Around The Corner, Distress In Paradise), Ernst Lubitsch also helmed his share of historical epics. This was his first, starring Pola Negri as the seamstress who becomes mistress of the aging Louis XV and, after his death, meets a sticky fate on the guillotine.

The acting’s on the broad side and historical accuracy is in fleeting supply – but Lubitsch is a master of crowd scenes, especially in the frenzied Revolution sequences. Key bonus is Lubitsch’s earliest surviving film as director, the marital farce When I Was Dead (1916), with the man himself hamming it up as the place-upon husband.