Overview

The Loves of Madame du Barry was the American title of the 1935 British operetta I Give My Heart, based on the stage musical The Du Barry. German actress Gitta Alpar stars as Jeanne, the young 18th century Parisian milliner who sleeps her way to the uppermost rungs of French aristocracy, emerging at last as the glamorous Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV (Owen Nares). Refusing to gloss over du Barry's sexual peccadilloes (as previous films with Norma Talmadge and Dolores del Rio had done), the film presents the "heroine" as a whore, pure and simple-or, on second thought, not so pure and simple! Particularly troublesome for American censors was a scene in which du Barry is depicted as a resident of a bawdy house. Otherwise, The Loves of Madame du Barry is standard historical-drama fare, allowing dozens of top European actors to play "dress-up" for 90 minutes.

Top Cast

Gitta Alpár

Madame du Barry

Patrick Waddington

René

Owen Nares

Louis XV

Arthur Margetson

Count du Barry

Margaret Bannerman

Marechale

Hugh Miller

Choiseul

Gibb McLaughlin

De Brissac

I

Iris Ashley

Margot

Hay Petrie

Cascal

C

Cicely Paget-Bowman

C

Charles Castella

J

Jimmy Godden