Dream of Love is a 1928

1928 in film

-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...

 MGM silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

, directed by Fred Niblo

Fred Niblo

Fred Niblo was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.-Biography:He was born Frederick Liedtke in York, Nebraska, to a French mother and a father who had served as a captain in the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg...

, and starring Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

 and Nils Asther

Nils Asther

Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was a Danish-born Swedish actor active in Hollywood from 1926 to the mid 1950s, known for his beautiful face and often called "the male Greta Garbo"...

. The film is based on the play

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 Adrienne Lecouvreur

Adrienne Lecouvreur

Adrienne Lecouvreur was a French actress.Born in Damery, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille...

by Eugène Scribe

Eugène Scribe

Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...

 and Ernest Legouvé

Ernest Legouvé

Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé was a French dramatist.-Biography:Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé , he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately afterwards his father was removed to a lunatic asylum. The child, however, inherited a considerable fortune,...

. In the film, Asther plays Prince Maurice de Saxe and Crawford plays Adrienne Lecouvreur, a Gypsy

Ruska Roma

The Ruska Roma , also known as Russian Gypsies , are a subgroup of Romani people, the biggest Romani group of Russia. Initially were known as Xaladitka Roma...

 performer, in a tale of lost love and revenge. Dream of Love is a lost

Lost film

A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...

.

Plot summary

Adrienne, a Gypsy girl performing in a traveling carnival

Traveling carnival

A traveling carnival is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, animal acts or sideshow curiosities. A traveling carnival is not set up at a permanent location, like an amusement park, but is moved from...

, is unable to find true love for herself until she makes the acquaintance of Prince Maurice. They fall in love, but must part when, for diplomatic reasons, the prince is called upon to make love to the rich wife of an influential duke

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

. Adrienne later becomes a popular stage

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 actress and again meets the prince. Coincidentally, she's appearing in a play which resembles the sad story of her earlier relationship with the prince. Maurice is struggling to win his throne from a usurping dictator

Dictator

A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...

. With Adrienne's help, he dodges an assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 attempt and becomes king.

Cast

• Nils Asther
  Nils Asther
  Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was a Danish-born Swedish actor active in Hollywood from 1926 to the mid 1950s, known for his beautiful face and often called "the male Greta Garbo"...
  
   - Prince Maurice de Saxe
• Joan Crawford
  Joan Crawford
  Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
  
   - Adrienne Lecouvreur
• Aileen Pringle
  Aileen Pringle
  Aileen Pringle was an American stage and film actress during the silent film era.-Early life:Born Aileen Bisbee into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco, California family and educated in Europe, Pringle began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son...
  
   - The Duchess
• Warner Oland
  Warner Oland
  Warner 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,...
  
   - The Duke, Current Dictator
• Carmel Myers
  Carmel Myers
  Carmel Myers was an American actress who worked chiefly in silent movies.Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of an Australian rabbi and Austrian Jewish mother. Her father became well-connected with California's emerging film industry, and introduced her to film pioneer D. W. Griffith,...
  
   - The Countess
• Harry Reinhardt - Count
• Harry Myers
  Harry Myers
  Harry C. Myers , sometimes credited as Henry Myers, was an American film actor and director. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and died in Hollywood, California from pneumonia...
  
  - The Baron
• Alphonse Martell - Michonet
• Fletcher Norton - Ivan