In 18th-century France, the King's mistress Madame Pompadour (Dorothy Gish), frees her jailed lover, political prisoner Rene Laval (Antonio Moreno), to make him her bodyguard.
Gish and Wilcox had just enjoyed a big hit with Nell Gwyn. British National Pictures and Paramount signed them to make three more movies of which this was the first.
Gish was paid £1500 a week for six weeks. Filming was delayed an extra three weeks and this added a large amount to the budget and almost brought the film to a standstill.[4]
Wilcox was paid £3000 for a film plus 25% of the profits but there were none.[1]
Critical reception
Allmovie wrote, "Dorothy Gish's screen vehicles for British director Herbert Wilcox were usually a treat, but her 1927 film Madame Pompadour tended to be weighed down by the ponderous stylistic choices of its producer, Germany's E. A. DuPont....Madame Pompadour was an especially lavish and handsome production. Unfortunately, despite its brief 75-minute running time, the film moved at a snail's pace."[5]
.jpg)
