FEATURE FILM / 1923

Violettes impériales

This historical melodrama (later remade by Henry Roussel himself in 1932 and Richard Pottier in 1952) set during the reign of Napoleon III of France. Here, Raquel Meller plays a Spanish flower girl who saves the life of the French empress Eugenie de Montijo (played by Suzanne Blanchetti), by taking her place in her carriage. When the carriage is overthrown by the anarchist's bomb, the girl survives because of the masses of violets in the imperial carriage, the empress' favorite flowers.