her that her dowry was not the only reason that he proposed to her many years ago in Marseille. Cast Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte Jean Simmons as Désirée Clary Merle Oberon as Joséphine de Beauharnais Michael Rennie as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Cameron Mitchell as Joseph Bonaparte Elizabeth Sellars as Julie Clary Charlotte Austin as Paulette Cathleen Nesbitt as Mme. Bonaparte Evelyn Varden as Marie Isobel Elsom as Madame Clary John Hoyt as Talleyrand Alan Napier as Despereaux Uncredited Nicholas Koster as Oscar Richard Deacon as Etienne Edith Evanson as Queen Hedwig Carolyn Jones as Mme. Tallien Sam Gilman as Fouché Larry Craine as Louis Bonaparte Judy Lester as Caroline Bonaparte Louis Borel as Baron Morner Peter Bourne as Count Brahe Dorothy Neumann as Queen Sofia Violet Rensing as Marie Louise of Austria Reception The film received mixed reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "A great deal of handsome decoration and two talented and attractive stars have been put into the CinemaScope production of the historical romance 'Desiree.' The only essential missing is a story of any consequence ... Mr. Taradash's script is quite positive in indicating that Napoleon loved the girl in the first flush of his ascendancy. But then it permits the amorous passion to appear to die, and there is not much in this line to intrigue the viewer until the end of the film." Variety called the film "easily one of the best and most potent costumers to come along in the widescreen age," and called Brando's performance "a masterful exhibition of thesping." Harrison's Reports called it "an engrossing entertainment, with exceptionally fine performances." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called the film "a feast to the eyes and a torture to the ears, intelligence and sensibilities," and called Brando's performance "better than 'Desiree' deserves." John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote, "There's a lot of colorful stuff on view—palace fêtes, lovely gardens and so on—but the plot is practically invisible." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "As Napoleon, Marlon Brando is given little opportunity to do more than wear the uniforms and strike the familiar attitudes ... although the performance is tentative and uneasy, he carries off some scenes with authority, a suggestion of muffled power, that perhaps indicates what he might have been able to make of the character in a film more ambitiously and imaginatively conceived." Notes The story