The Spanish Dancer
(Paramount Pictures, US, 1923)
Dir.: Herbert Brenon; scen.: Adolphe Philippe d'Ennery, June Mathis, Beulah Marie Dix; cast: Pola Negri (Maritana), Antonio Moreno (Don César de Bazan), Wallace Beery (King Philip IV), Kathlyn Williams (Queen Isabel of Bourbon), Gareth Hughes (Lazarillo); DCP 4K, 105’ (transferred 18 to 24 fps), tinted; intertitle/subtitle language: EN/PL; source: EYE Filmmuseum.
Herbert Brenon’s “The Spanish Dancer” is set in the Spanish court of the early 17th century. When Don César de Bazan, a nobleman who owns little else than his title, falls foul of the king over his love for the gypsy girl, Maritana, he is thrown into jail and sentenced to death. But then the tricky Don Salluste and his cohorts intervene, troubled as they are by the influence of the king’s French wife, Isabella; the various schemes hatched by these courtly diplomats have consequences that not even they could have anticipated.
The film is one of the many film adaptations inspired by the operatic works “Maritana” and “Don César de Bazan”, both popular in the second half of the 19th century. These stage productions were on their turn based on Victor Hugo’s stage play “Ruy Blas” from 1838.
“The Spanish Dancer” was one of the largest Hollywood productions of its day. The studio behind it, Famous Players- Lasky (which was later to become Paramount Pictures), originally wanted to cast its biggest name, Rudolph Valentino, but this wasn’t to be. When Valentino broke his contract with the studio, the story got re-written to star the gypsy girl Maritana rather than Don César as the main character. Pola Negri, the studio’s biggest star recently imported from Europe, was given the lead role. The role of Don César then went to Antonio Moreno, a Spanish born actor who had moved to Hollywood at an early age and made a name for himself since. Other characters were casted with numerous important character actors such as Kathlyn Williams and Adolphe Menjou. The film’s ambitious décor and costumes, and the carnival scenes with their hundreds of extras make this one of the foremost examples of the lavish productions that Hollywood studios were turning out towards the mid-1920s.
Elif Rongen
The restoration was undertaken by the EYE Film Institute, once international research revealed that the film shown until then was actually a version that had been shortened in the 1950s. On the basis of two Dutch and Russian language nitrate prints surviving from the 1920s, along with two abridged English and French language sources and the continuity script found in the USA, the film was reassembled and returned to almost its original version. In 2012, the fully restored picture premiered at a gala performance marking the opening of the new EYE Filmmuseum building in Amsterdam. Since then ”The Spanish Dancer” has been screened numerous times in the festivals around the world.
Fri, Apr 20 | 7.30pm | kino Iluzjon
music: Spontaneous Chamber Music