Imperial Venus (DVD)

Paulette, the favorite sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, is a beautiful, flirtatious woman. Obsessed with social appearances, the French emperor disapproves of the men Paulette is drawn to, sending her suitors off to distant battlefronts. He arranges loveless marriages for her with a general (who dies of yellow fever in the Antilles) and an Italian prince (who refuses to divorce her when she falls in love with dashing cavalryman, Jules de Canouville). Despite this constant interference in her personal life, Paulette remains loyally devoted to her brother. When Napoleon is sent into exile following a string of military defeats, the only person he trusts to accompany him to Elba is his loving Paulette.

Gina Lollobrigida, the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" (a tag she earned by appearing in the 1956 film of the same name) is best remembered as the sultry Sheba opposite Yul Brenner's suave King Solomon in King Vidor's 1959 epic, Solomon and Sheba. A later successful second career as a photo-journalist had her scooping the world's press with an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro.

• drama