Don juan (1926)

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Movie
German title Don Juan - The great lover
Original title Don juan
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1926
length 10 acts, 3053 ½ meters, at 22 fps around 122 minutes
Rod
Director Alan Crosland
script Bess Meredyth
production Warner bros.
music William Ax ,
David Mendoza
camera Byron Haskin
cut Harold McCord
occupation

Don Juan is the title of an opulent production film directed by Alan Crosland for Warner Bros. in 1926 based on a script by Bess Meredyth . It was based on an epic poem “Don Juan” by Lord Byron from 1821. The title role of the great lover was played by John Barrymore .

It was the studio's first attempt with the new “Vitaphone” needle tone process. The film was released in cinemas with synchronized orchestral music and incidence noises, but still without dialogue.

action

In the prologue, after learning of his wife's infidelity, Don José masons her lover alive in his hiding place and throws her out of the castle. Slave to his lust, he is stabbed by his last lover. As he dies, he begs his son don Juan in his last words to take everything from women but not to give in to them in any way.

Ten years later, young don Juan, who has just graduated from the University of Pisa, is a famous lover who is after many women. The mighty Lucretia Borgia, who invites him to her ball, is one of them. His contempt for her incites her hatred of Adriana, the daughter of the Duke of Varnese, for whom he has fallen in love. Lucretia intends to marry her off to Count Donati and to poison the duke. But don Juan intervenes and lets the plan go to nothing. In doing so, he wins Adriana's love.

But the Borgias declare war on the duke's followers, but at the same time offer them security in case Adriana finds herself ready to marry Donati. Don Juan is invited to the wedding but would rather die than marry Lucretia. For this he is thrown in prison. He escapes from the dungeon and kills Donati in a duel. The lovers are led to the 'Tower of Death', but while Adriana is faking suicide, he escapes. After a series of skirmishes, he defeats his pursuers and is reunited with Adriana.

background

The film was produced by Warner Bros. and its newly formed subsidiary The Vitaphone Corporation . The subtitles, the artistic design of which was done by Victor Vance , wrote Maud Fulton and Walter Anthony . The set was created by Ben Carré . Marion Morgan choreographed the dances. The photography was done by Byron Haskin , assisted by Frank Kesson. Sound engineers were Gerald W. Alexander and George Groves . Gordon Hollingshead assisted the direction. The illustration music was composed by William Axt and David Mendoza. It was orchestrated by Maurice Baron and arranged by Edward Bowes . Henry Hadley conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra while recording in the studio.

The sound engineer George Groves had used several microphones and a mixer for the first time to record the film, thus pioneering the technology of sound film.

Don Juan premiered in the United States on August 6, 1926 in New York City , New York. The film was officially released in theaters on February 19, 1927. The film did not come to Germany until 1928. There it was given the title “Don Juan - The Great Lover”. It was awarded by National-Film Verleih und Vertriebs AG. Berlin

At the premiere, Will H. Hays , President of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , gave a short speech, recorded on “Vitaphone”, in which he greeted the audience with the sentence "Welcome to a new era of motion picture".

Then began a preliminary program, which was introduced by the New York Philharmonic with the overture to Wagner's opera “ Thannhäuser ”. This was followed by individual performances by violin virtuosos Mischa Elman and Efrem Zimbalist Sr. , guitarist Roy Smeck , and three opera arias sung by Giovanni Martinelli , Marion Talley and Anna Case . The main film was only shown after these short sound films.

reception

  • In the United States, the film received critical acclaim when it premiered and was a box office success.

“DON JUAN was allegedly based on the long poem by Lord Byron, whose name on the screen gave the evening its last great imprimatur of importance. […] In every respect, however, DON JUAN was a prestige production. Ben Carre's sets were as handsome as Barrymore, the cast was first-rate, and Byron Haskin's cinematography subtle and stylish. The sound that accompanied segments of the film was recorded on disc by the New York Philharmonic, and the film's action scenes were as fluid and suspenseful as anything the movies had seen. " (Kevin Hagopian, Penn State University)

Despite good box office results, however, it was unable to cover the costs of its production, so that the Warner brothers found themselves deeply in debt. It devoured $ 789,963, the largest budget the Warner brothers had ever put on a film.

The critic Mordaunt Hall pointed out in the Movie Review in "The New York Times" of August 7, 1926, under the headline "Vitaphone Stirs as Talking Movie; New Device Synchronizing Sound with Action Impresses with Its Realistic Effects. Noted Musicians Heard Provides Orchestral Accompaniment to Photoplay "Don Juan" With John Barrymore "points to the almost limitless possibilities that the new process opens up. Residents of small or remote places could now also take part in glamorous performances in the metropolises. The art of musicians, soloists as well as entire orchestras, and singers could be better conveyed to the audience. After all, opera friends could see and hear long-faded singers again like this (p. 6):

“The future of this new contrivance is boundless, for inhabitants of small and remote places will have the opportunity of listening to and seeing grand open as it is given in New York, and through the picturing of the vocalists and small groups of musicians, or instrumental choirs of orchestras, the vitaphone will give its patrons an excellent idea of ​​a singer's acting and an intelligent conception of the efforts of musicians and their instruments. Operatic favorites will be able to be seen and heard, and the genius of singers and musicians who have passed will still live. ”

  • In Germany the film was reviewed in:

DON JUAN - The great lover. In: Illustrierter Film-Kurier. No. 841, 1928, p. 8.

  • After a brief performance between 1928 and 1929, it was banned in January 1930:

On March 29, 1928, the film was submitted to the Berlin Film Inspectorate for censorship at a length of 2532 meters and was banned from young people under No. B.18590. On April 21, 1928 there was a resubmission for censorship to the Berlin Film Inspection Office under the number B.15095, this time with the result “Approved” (source: Minutes, Approved; Document: censorship decision); Another submission on July 20, 1928 for censorship to the Berlin Film Inspectorate confirmed the approval (No. B.15566, source: Minutes, Approved; Document: Document). On January 8, 1930, the film was submitted to the Berlin Film Inspectorate, which revoked its approval. The film was under the censorship no. O.00009 prohibited (source: protocol, prohibition). Reason for prohibition: “Endangering moral and spiritual development, overexciting the young people's imagination”, according to Section 3, Paragraph 2.

A complete copy of the film “Don Juan” and records have been preserved and are being held in the UCLA Film and Television Archives in Los Angeles.

“Don Juan” was released in 2011 by Warner Bros. in the Warner Archive Collection together with the short films from the premiere program . The DVD version has a playing time of 112 minutes.

literature

  • Edwin M. Bradley: The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931. McFarland, 2005, ISBN 0-7864-1030-2 , pp. 2, 18, 22, 515.
  • Nick Evangelista: The Encyclopedia of the Sword. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, ISBN 0-313-27896-2 , pp. 5, 47, 98, 181, 221.
  • Graeme Harper, Ruth Doughty, Jochen Eisentraut (Eds.): Sound and Music in Film and Visual Media: A Critical Overview. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2014, ISBN 978-1-5013-0543-6 , pp. 22-23, 64.
  • Thomas S. Hischak: The Encyclopedia of Film Composers . Rowman & Littlefield, April 16, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4422-4550-1 , pp. 30-31, 384-385, 387 (on W. Axt) and others. 448, 481–482, 639 (to D. Mendoza)
  • Oskar Kalbus: On becoming German film art. Part 2: The sound film. From Dr. Oskar Kalbus. Hamburg, Cigaretten Bilderdienst Altona-Bahrenfeld, 1935, pp. 8–9.
  • Laurence E. MacDonald: The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History. Revised edition. Scarecrow Press, 1998, ISBN 1-4616-7304-6 , pp. 13-16 and 21
  • Ross Melnick: American Showman: Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935 . (= Film and Culture Series ). New edition. Columbia University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-231-15905-0 , p. 288.
  • Jeannie G. Pool, H. Stephen Wright: A Research Guide to Film and Television Music in the United States (= G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series ). Rowman & Littlefield, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8108-7688-0 , p. 71.
  • Michael Slowik: After the Silents: Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era, 1926–1934 . (= Film and Culture Series ). Columbia University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-231-53550-2 , pp. 6, 12, 41-42, 44-46, 54, 57-58, 85, 100, 266, 279, 316, 322, 359 , 365, 371.
  • EJ Stephens, Marc Wanamaker: Early Warner Bros. Studios. Arcadia Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7385-8091-3 , pp. 8, 11, 24-26.

Web links

items

Illustrations

Audio documents

  • youtube Introduction of Vitaphone sound pictures (Mr. Will H. Hays) August 6, 1926
  • youtube Roy Smeck, the wizard of the strings, in "His Pastimes" released on the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system in 1926.
  • youtube Mischa Elman, violin, plays Humoresque No. 7 (Dvořák) on Vitaphone 1926
  • youtube Efrem Zimbalist sen., violin, and Harold Bauer on the piano play the Kreutzer Sonata (Beethoven) on Vitaphone 1926

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. IMDb.com : “This film, the first Warner Bros. feature to utilize the Vitaphone process, debuted in a gala premiere on August 6th 1926 and while it was a hit, it signaled an industry format was unrivaled until the 1980s Beta vs. VHS battle. Warner's Der Jazzsinger (1927) would become a monster hit 13 months later, solidly proving the public's interest in sound. "
  2. ↑ cf. Slownik p. 41, Harper et al. a, p. 64.
  3. ↑ cf. IMDb / companycredits
  4. ↑ cf. IMDb: " At the film's premiere, Will Hays, the then" Czar "and censor of the industry, contributed an on-screen introduction, talking in synchronized sound, greeting everyone in the audience with" Welcome to a new era of motion picture. " ”
  5. ↑ the tenor Martinelli sang "Vesti La Giubba" from "Pagliacci", Marion Talley the aria "Caro Nome" from "Rigoletto", and Anna Case a solo for soprano from "La Fiesta", accompanied by the Spanish dance group Cansinos (its founder was the Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino (* 1895; † December 24, 1968), the father of the later famous actress Rita Hayworth ) and the choir of the Metropolitan Opera .
  6. ↑ cf. IMDb: " After that, the New York Philharmonic was filmed playing the overture to" Tannhäuser ", violinists Mischa Elman and Efrem Zimbalist Sr., guitarist Roy Smeck, three opera shorts with Giovanni Martinelli, Marion Talley and Anna Case, and then the feature . It was a huge success ”. In addition Bradley p. 2 u. 5
  7. ↑ Kevin Hagopian at albany.edu
  8. ↑ cf. Stephens-Wanamaker p. 8: "In spite of the hugely successful premiere the film was unable to recoup its costs, and the brothers were left seriously in debt."
  9. ↑ cf. en.wiki : “The film was critically acclaimed upon release, as well as a box-office success. It was produced at a cost of $ 789,963, the largest budget of any Warner Bros. film up to that point. ”
  10. ↑ cf. Protocol at DIF archive
  11. ↑ cf. loc.gov
  12. ↑ cf. silentera.com