The Spanish dancer
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Spanish dancer |
| Original title | The Spanish Dancer |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | 56 (today's restored version) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Herbert Brenon |
| script |
June Mathis Beulah Marie Dix based on the play Don Cesar von Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe Dumanoir |
| production | Herbert Brenon |
| camera | James Wong Howe |
| cut | Helene Warne |
| occupation | |
| |
The Spanish dancer is an American silent film melodrama with Pola Negri in the lead role.
action
The Spanish dancer and gypsy Maritana falls in love with the nobleman Cesare de Bazan, who is, however, completely penniless, if not to say deeply in debt. Since he cannot repay this gambling debt, he should be thrown into dungeon. However, Maritana helps him escape the king's captors. When King Philip first noticed the Spanish dancer, he was very impressed by her beauty and sent some of his soldiers to have Maritana brought to him. In the meantime, Cesare has engaged in a sword deal with the captain of a royal guard, as he had previously beaten the boy Lazarillo. That someone raises his sword against a soldier of the king is considered a revolutionary affront and leads to the immediate arrest of the "delinquent". As is common in such a case, Don Cesare is also sentenced to death. The desperate Maritana rushes to Queen Isabella to beg mercy for her boy of heart. Isabella, moved by Maritana's devotion, asks the king to grant this grace. King Philip agrees, but for different reasons: he is totally enchanted by the beauty of the dancing gypsy and desperately wants her.
But for this she must be a woman of the class, and so Don Salluste, the king's loyal helper, comes into play. Without further ado, he lets the improper marry Don Cesare, who has been sentenced to death, in an absurd wedding celebration, believing that this death row inmate will soon be executed and that the now befitting Maritana will be free for the king. Then the little scrupulous Salluste Maritana leads the king in his hunting chalet so that he can seduce her there. With the help of the Queen and especially Lazarillos, the rescued boy at the beginning of the story, Don Cesare is released. Now the nobleman, who has just been released from prison, rushes to his secret bride to prevent her from becoming the king's lover at the same time. This is entirely in the spirit of the jealous queen, who, as her husband's lover, is more than a thorn in the side of Maritana. Don Cesar wants to duel with the king. Then the queen appears and brings everyone to their senses. All? Not quite, because now Maritana is suddenly madly jealous. This touches King Philip so much that he gives the married couple his royal blessing.
Production notes
The Spanish dancer was released in American cinemas on October 7, 1923. The film opened in Germany and Austria in November of the following year.
Pola Negri's role was originally designed for Rudolph Valentino . This film and Ernst Lubitsch's US debut " Rosita " were based on the same story and were made almost at the same time.
criticism
“This was Negri's third film for Paramount, and it came out around the same time as Rosita, which starred Mary Pickford and retold a pretty similar story. (Incidentally,“ Rosita ”was made by Ernst Lubitsch, the Negri for his own film). While Rosita managed to get through the times, The Spanish Dancer was seen as the better movie when it came out, and no wonder - Negri was totally believable as the exotic, spirited dancer, whereas such a role was quite an effort meant for the 30 year old girlie girl Pickford. "
In Paimann's film lists it can be read: "The subject is always exciting, even if it is a bit difficult to overlook in places, the presentation is excellent in every respect, the presentation and photography are on par with performance."
classification
Lotte H. Eisner wrote about the young Pola Negri:
“She is the Magnani of the silent film era, vital, spirited. As seductive as the Lollobrigida was at the beginning . She does not act, is hardly an actress in the past or present sense. It is just there. (...) The Negri represents healthy sensuality in all its originality. There is nothing to tinker with and nothing to tinker with. In a time of round shapes, it is full of life and yet supple like a panther cat. (...) It is unencumbered, only seduction. Her intellectual, spiritualized counterpart is the great Asta Nielsen . Pola, the Polish woman, is a being full of harmlessness, ruled by instincts. She is the dancer in “ Sumurun ” with all her body flexibility, with all her rhythmic natural wildness. It is not for nothing that she seems predestined for this: the first film with her was the “Polish Dancer” and later the “Spanish Dancer”. "
Web links
- The Spanish Dancer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Spanish dancer at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Spanish Dancer" in Paimann's film lists ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lotte H. Eisner : The Magnani of the silent film era. (Essay). In: Official Festival Almanac. 14th International Film Festival, Berlin. 1964 (= Filmblätter. Vol. 17, No. 25/26, 1964, ZDB -ID 392290-x ). Film Blätter-Verlag, Berlin 1964, p. 62 (on the occasion of a Pola Negri retrospective).
