One of MGM's most sumptuous productions of the '30s, Conquest plucks out of history the little known tale of Marie Walewska, the young Polish countess who became Napoleon's favorite mistress and thereby spared her country the full horrors of the Napoleonic wars. Charles Boyer is surprisingly well cast as Napoleon, whom he portrays with understated brutality and brusque tenderness, while Garbo evolves with her role from sacrificial lamb to lover of a man consumed by his own destiny. Directed by Clarence Brown (Flesh and the Devil, Anna Karenina), Conquest has memorable moments, from the grand (a Cossack raid on the Walewski estate) to the intimate (the scene of the lovers' first meeting). German emigré cinematographer Karl Freund (Metropolis, Camille) uses his knowledge of shadows to invest the epic with some truly startling images.