Don Juan (1926 film)
Encyclopedia
Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland
. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone
sound effects and musical soundtrack
, though it has no spoken dialogue. The production, which premiered in New York City on August 6, 1926, stars John Barrymore
as the hand-kissing womanizer (the number of kisses in the film set a record).
Juan has his way with and was pursued by many women, but it is the one that he could not have that haunts him. It will be for her that he suffers the wrath of Borgia for ignoring Lucrezia and then killing Count Donati in a duel. For Adriana, they will both be condemned to death in the prison on the river Tiber.
.
:
The Vitaphone system was quickly duplicated for the Hollywood premiere in October 1926 at Grauman's Egyptian Theater. Among the stars who attended included such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin
, Greta Garbo
, Mary Pickford
and Douglas Fairbanks
, Theda Bara
, Buster Keaton
, Samuel Goldwyn
, King Vidor
and Eleanor Boardman
, Cecil B. DeMille
, Wallace Beery
, Pola Negri
, Dolores del Rio
, Marion Davies
, Janet Gaynor
, Allan Dwan
, Victor Fleming
, and Richard Barthelmess
.
Alan Crosland
Alan Crosland was an American stage actor and film director.-Early life and career:Born in New York City, New York to a well-to-do family, Alan Crosland attended Dartmouth College. After graduation he took a job as a writer with the New York Globe magazine...
. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
sound effects and musical soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
, though it has no spoken dialogue. The production, which premiered in New York City on August 6, 1926, stars John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
as the hand-kissing womanizer (the number of kisses in the film set a record).
Plot
If there was one thing that Don Juan de Marana learned from his father Don Jose, it was that women gave you three things - life, disillusionment and death. In his father's case it was his wife, Donna Isobel, and Donna Elvira who supplied the latter. Don Juan settled in Rome after attending the University of Pisa. Rome was run by the tyrannical Borgia family consisting of Caesar, Lucrezia and their evil cousin Count Donati.Juan has his way with and was pursued by many women, but it is the one that he could not have that haunts him. It will be for her that he suffers the wrath of Borgia for ignoring Lucrezia and then killing Count Donati in a duel. For Adriana, they will both be condemned to death in the prison on the river Tiber.
Cast
- John BarrymoreJohn BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
- Don Jose de Marana / Don Juan de Marana - Jane WintonJane WintonJane Winton was a movieactress, dancer, opera soprano, writer, and painter. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.During the 1920s she began her stage career as a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies.-Film actress:...
- Donna Isobel - John RocheJohn RocheJohn Michael Roche is a retired American professional basketball player in both the ABA and the NBA...
- Leandro - Warner OlandWarner OlandWarner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...
- Cesare Borgia - Estelle TaylorEstelle TaylorEstelle Taylor was an American Hollywood actress whose career was most prominent during the silent film era of the 1920s....
- Lucrezia Borgia - Montagu LoveMontagu LoveMontagu Love , also known as Montague Love, was an English screen, stage and vaudeville actor.Born Harry Montague Love in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and educated in Great Britain, Love began his career as an artist and military correspondent. His first important job was as a London newspaper...
- Count Giano Donati - Josef SwickardJosef SwickardJosef Swickard was a German-born veteran stage and screen character actor, who had toured with stock companies in Europe, South Africa, and South America.-Career:...
- Duke Della Varnese - Willard LouisWillard LouisWillard Louis was an American film actor and director of the silent era. He appeared in 81 films between 1911 and 1926 and he directed 82 films between 1912 and 1916....
- Pedrillo - Nigel De BrulierNigel De BrulierNigel De Brulier was an English film actor, who launched his career in the theatre stage in his native country and transferred to movies after moving to USA. His first film role was a poet in The Pursuit of the Phantom in 1914...
- Marchese Rinaldo - Hedda HopperHedda HopperHedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
- Marchesia Rinaldo - Myrna LoyMyrna LoyMyrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
- Mai, Lady in Waiting - Mary AstorMary AstorMary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
- Adriana della Varnese - Lionel Braham - Duke Margoni (uncredited)
- Helene CostelloHelene CostelloHelene Costello was an American motion picture actress, most notably of the silent film era.Lou Costello took his professional name from the actress.- Biography :...
- Rena, Adriana's Maid (uncredited) - Helena D'Algy - Donna Elvira, Murderess (uncredited)
- Yvonne Day - Don Juan (at age 5) (uncredited)
- Philippe De LacyPhilippe De LacyPhilippe De Lacy a.k.a. Philippe deLacy was a former silent film era child actor.-Early life:Born during World War I, the already fatherless Philippe lost his mother and five siblings when a German shell devastated the family home...
- Don Juan (at age 10) (uncredited) - Emily FitzroyEmily FitzroyEmily Fitzroy was a British film actress who eventually became an American citizen. She made her film debut in 1915 and retired in 1944, with exactly 100 films to her resume...
- The Dowager (uncredited) - Johnny GeorgeJohn George (actor)John George was a dwarf actor who appeared in at least 130 movies from 1916 to 1960. George worked in films of all genres alongside countless stars although often for only the briefest of appearances....
- Hunchback/Castlekeeper/Informer (uncredited) - Gibson GowlandGibson GowlandGibson Gowland was an English film actor.Early sources had his birth place place as Newcastle. He started work as a sailor and later became mate of a ship...
- Gentleman of Rome (uncredited) - Phyllis HaverPhyllis HaverPhyllis Haver was an American actress of the silent film era.-Early life:She was born Phyllis Haver in Douglass, Kansas. When she was young, her family moved to Los Angeles, California, then a city of less than half a million people. Haver attended Los Angeles Polytechnic High...
- Imperia (uncredited) - Sheldon LewisSheldon LewisSheldon Lewis was an American actor of the silent era best known for his antagonistic roles. He appeared in 93 films between 1914 and 1936.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died in San Gabriel, California...
- Gentleman of Rome (uncredited) - June MarloweJune MarloweJune Marlowe , was an American actress, who appeared in six Our Gang short subjects as the lovely schoolteacher Miss Crabtree.-Career:...
- Trusia (uncredited) - Dick SutherlandDick SutherlandDick Sutherland was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 76 films between 1921 and 1932. His crude threatening looking features were a result of acromegaly...
- Gentleman of Rome (uncredited) - Gustav von SeyffertitzGustav von SeyffertitzGustav von Seyffertitz was a German film actor and director. He appeared in 118 films between 1917 and 1939.He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81.-Selected filmography:...
- Neri, the Alchemist (uncredited) - Helen Lee Worthing - Eleanora (uncredited)
Sound recording
George Groves, on assignment to Vitaphone, was charged with recording the soundtrack to the film. He devised an innovative, multi-microphone technique and performed a live mix of the 107-strong orchestra. In doing so he became the first music mixer in film history. The music was played by the New York PhilharmonicNew York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
.
Program of Vitaphone Shorts Shown Before Don Juan
The following short films made in Vitaphone were shown before Don Juan on August 6, 1926 at the Warner Theater on 52nd and Broadway in Times SquareTimes Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
:
- Introductory Remarks by Will H. HaysWill H. HaysWilliam Harrison Hays, Sr. , was the namesake of the Hays Code for censorship of American films, chairman of the Republican National Committee and U.S. Postmaster General from 1921 to 1922....
- The New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Henry Hadley, plays the overture to Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's TannhäuserTannhäuser (opera)Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg... - Roy SmeckRoy SmeckRoy Smeck was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, steel guitar, and especially the ukulele earned him the nickname "Wizard of the Strings."-Background:...
, billed as "The Wizard of the Strings" in His Pastimes - Anna CaseAnna CaseAnna Case was an American soprano. She recorded with Thomas Alva Edison, who used her voice extensively in "tone tests" of whether a live audience could tell the difference between the actual singer and a recording...
and The Dancing CansinosRita HayworthRita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
in La Fiesta - Mischa Elman performs "Humoresque" by Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
- Giovanni MartinelliGiovanni MartinelliGiovanni Martinelli was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor. He was particularly associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well...
sings "Vesti la giubbaVesti la giubba"Vesti la giubba" is a famous tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci. "Vesti la giubba" is the conclusion of the first act, when Canio discovers his wife's infidelity, but must nevertheless prepare for his performance as Pagliaccio the clown because "the show must go on".The...
" from I Pagliacci
The Vitaphone system was quickly duplicated for the Hollywood premiere in October 1926 at Grauman's Egyptian Theater. Among the stars who attended included such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
and Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
, Theda Bara
Theda Bara
Theda Bara , born Theodosia Burr Goodman, was an American silent film actress – one of the most popular of her era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname "The Vamp" . The term "vamp" soon became a popular slang term for a sexually predatory woman...
, Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
and Eleanor Boardman
Eleanor Boardman
Eleanor Boardman was an American film actress, popular during the era of silent movies.-Early life and career:...
, Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
, Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, Pola Negri
Pola Negri
Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She...
, Dolores del Rio
Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
, Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
, Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
, Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...
, Victor Fleming
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...
, and Richard Barthelmess
Richard Barthelmess
Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...
.
