There was a long pause while each of the trio scanned his memories of that famous work. Although some critics considered her Scarlett O’Hara to be her finest role, to the general public Yva Merlin (née Evelyn Miles, when she was born in Cardiff, South Wales) was still identified with Josephine. Almost half a century ago, David Griffin’s controversial epic had delighted the French and infuriated the British—though both sides now agreed that he had occasionally allowed his artistic impulses to trifle with the historical record, notably in the spectacular final sequence of the emperor’s
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