Carlotta The Mad Empress [1939] [DVD]

In Paris, in 1862, French Emperor Louis Napoleon III offers the throne of Mexico to Archduke Maximilian and his wife, Princess Carlotta of Belgium. Prince Metternick advises against accepting the offer because there is so little support for the French empire in Mexico, especially on the part of the United States. Maximilian, whose brother is Francis Joseph, the emperor of Austria, is reluctant to accept the Mexican throne because to do so he must renounce his claim to the Austrian throne, but Carlotta convinces him that this is an opportunity to build a new Hapsburgh empire.