Love (1927 American film)

Last updated

Love
Love (1927 film).jpg
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Written by Lorna Moon
Frances Marion
Marian Ainslee
Ruth Cummings
Based on Anna Karenina
1876 novel
by Leo Tolstoy
Produced by Edmund Goulding
Starring John Gilbert
Greta Garbo
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Edited by Hugh Wynn
Music byArnold Brostoff (1944)
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
[1]
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages Silent film
Sound film 1928 Release (Synchronized)
English Intertitles
Budget$487,994.88 [2] [3] [4]
Box office$1,677,000 (worldwide rentals) [3] [4]
Full film (without sound)

Love is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A sound version of the film was released in 1928 with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. MGM made the film to capitalize on its winning romantic team of Greta Garbo and John Gilbert who had starred in the 1926 blockbuster Flesh and the Devil .

Contents

Taking full advantage of the star power, a drama was scripted based on Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel, Anna Karenina . The result was a failure for the author's purists, but it provided the public with a taste of Gilbert-Garbo eroticism that would never again be matched. The publicity campaign for the film was one of the largest up to that time, and the title was changed from the original, Heat.

Director Dimitri Buchowetzki began work on Love with Garbo and Ricardo Cortez. However, producer Irving Thalberg was unhappy with the early filming, and started over by replacing Buchowetzki with Edmund Goulding, cinematographer Merritt B. Gerstad with William H. Daniels, and Cortez with Gilbert. [5]

Music

The 1928 sound version featured a theme song entitled "That Melody Of Love" which was composed by Walter Donaldson and Howard Dietz. Ernst Luz was responsible for the arrangement of the musical score for the sound version of the film.

Plot

During a blizzard, Russian count Alexis Vronsky, aide-de-camp of the Grand Duke, meets a veiled woman on the way to St. Petersburg, Russia. When they are forced to stop at an inn overnight, Vronsky attempts to seduce her but she rejects him.

Later, at a reception for Senator Karenin, Vronsky is presented to the Senator's wife, Anna, who is the woman at the inn, and asks forgiveness for his transgression. This she finally grants. She is determined to avoid him and temptation, but boredom with an older husband leads her to see Vronsky again and a relationship develops.

Anna has a young son, Sergei, with whom she has an extremely close relationship which thaws as the passion develops between Anna and Vronsky. This passion is noted by the aristocracy, to the displeasure of her husband. After a horse race, in which Anna demonstrates publicly her excessive interest in Vronsky's safety, she visits Vronsky in his rooms to see that he is all right and is cast off by her husband. Anna and Vronsky go off to Italy together.

After a while, Anna suffers because she left her son, so Vronsky takes her back to Russia. She visits her son, who had been told she was dead. Anna brings him presents on his birthday, but she is discovered by Karenin and barred from the house permanently. He tells Anna that her son will forget her, as he has done once already, and that her death would be better than the dishonor she will bring on him. He also tells her that the Grand Duke plans to cashier Vronsky from his regiment, ending a long and honourable family tradition of elite army service, because he is cohabitating with Anna. She begs the Grand Duke for mercy and succeeds in persuading him to relent on the condition that she leaves St. Petersberg and never sees Vronsky again. While he is at the dinner to which the Grand Duke has summoned him, she departs.

Alternate ending (European version)

As a result of being unable to see her son and having to leave Vronsky, she commits suicide by leaping in front of a train. This variant follows the original work of Leo Tolstoy.

Alternate ending (American version)

For three years, the lovers do not see each other but Vronsky searches frantically for Anna. By chance, he reads in a newspaper that Anna's son is at the Military Academy in St. Petersburg and visits him, learning that Karenin has died and that Anna visits her son daily. They meet and are reunited.

(American exhibitors were given the choice of whether or not to use the revised "happy" ending. Theaters on the coasts mostly picked Tolstoy while theaters in Middle America mostly picked the happy ending.) [6]

Cast

Release and reception

According to MGM records Love earned $946,000 in theater rentals from the United States and Canada and an additional $741,000 from foreign rentals, giving the studio a profit of $571,000. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Anna Karenina</i> 1878 novel by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Considered to be among the greatest works of literature ever written, Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial installments from 1875 to 1877, all but the last part appearing in the periodical The Russian Messenger. By the time he was finishing up the last installments Tolstoy was in an anguished state of mind and, having come to hate it, finished it unwillingly. When William Faulkner was asked to list what he thought were the three greatest novels, he replied: "Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina, and Anna Karenina".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gilbert (actor)</span> American actor and film director (1897–1936)

John Gilbert was an American actor, screenwriter and director. He rose to fame during the silent era and became a popular leading man known as "The Great Lover". His breakthrough came in 1925 with his starring roles in The Merry Widow and The Big Parade. At the height of his career, Gilbert rivaled Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1985 film) 1985 film by Simon Langton

Anna Karenina is a 1985 American made-for-television romantic drama film based on the famous Leo Tolstoy 1877 novel Anna Karenina starring Jacqueline Bisset and Christopher Reeve and directed by Simon Langton. The film was broadcast on CBS on March 26, 1985.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Julien Duvivier

Anna Karenina is a 1948 British film based on the 1877 novel of the same title by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by Clarence Brown

Anna Karenina is a 1935 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of the 1877 novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, and Maureen O'Sullivan. There are several other film adaptations of the novel.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (musical) 1992 musical

Anna Karenina is a 1992 musical with a book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by Daniel Levine.

<i>Torrent</i> (1926 film) Silent romantic drama by Monta Bell

Torrent is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by an uncredited Monta Bell, based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, and released on February 21, 1926. Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo. The film also starred Ricardo Cortez and Martha Mattox.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1997 film) 1997 American period drama film

Anna Karenina is a 1997 American period drama film written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, Alfred Molina, Mia Kirshner and James Fox. Based on the 1878 novel of the same name by Leo Tolstoy, the film is about a young and beautiful married woman who meets a handsome count, with whom she falls in love. Eventually, the conflict between her passionate desires and painful social realities leads to depression and despair.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1915 film) 1915 film

Anna Karenina is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Betty Nansen. It was the first American adaptation of the 1878 novel by Leo Tolstoy. Some scenes were shot on location at a ski resort near Montreal.

<i>The Kiss</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

The Kiss is a 1929 American synchronized sound drama film directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, and Lew Ayres in his first feature film. The film has no audible dialogue but featured a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric Sound System sound-on-film process. The soundtrack was also transferred to discs for those theatres that were wired with sound-on-disc sound systems.

<i>The Single Standard</i> 1929 film

The Single Standard is a 1929 American synchronized sound romantic drama film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed by veteran John S. Robertson and starring Greta Garbo, Nils Asther and Johnny Mack Brown. The film has no audible dialogue but featured a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric Sound System sound-on-film process. The soundtrack was also transferred to discs for those theatres that were wired with sound-on-disc sound systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimitri Buchowetzki</span> Russian film director

Dimitri Buchowetzki (1885–1932), born Dmitry Savelyevych Bukhovecky, was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and actor in Germany, Sweden, United States, United Kingdom, and France.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Joe Wright

Anna Karenina is a 2012 historical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright. Adapted by Tom Stoppard from Leo Tolstoy's 1878 novel, the film depicts the tragedy of Russian aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina, wife of senior statesman Alexei Karenin, and her affair with the affluent cavalry officer Count Vronsky. Keira Knightley stars as the titular character; this is her third collaboration with director Joe Wright following Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson appear as Karenin and Vronsky, respectively. Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander appear in key supporting roles.

Anna Karenina is a 1918 Hungarian silent drama film directed by Márton Garas and starring Irén Varsányi, Dezső Kertész and Emil Fenyvessy. It is an adaptation of the 1877 novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This is a Russian silent film based on the eponymous book by Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is a young wife of an older husband. She is having an affair with the young and handsome Count Vronsky. Their mutual love is under social pressure. By following her desires Anna complicates her life and ends it in a suicide under a train.—Steve Shelokhonov

Anna Karenina is a four-part British television adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel of the same name.

Anna Karenina is a 1975 Soviet film directed by Margarita Pilikhina. It was first shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival where it premiered out of competition.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

Anna Karenina is a 1920 German silent historical film, directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Lya Mara, Johannes Riemann, and Heinrich Peer. It is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel Anna Karenina. It premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin.

<i>Anna Karenina: Vronskys Story</i> 2017 Russian drama film

Anna Karenina: Vronsky's Story is a 2017 Russian drama film directed by Karen Shakhnazarov. An expanded eight-part version titled Anna Karenina aired on the Russia-1 television channel.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1911 film) 1911 Russian Empire film

Anna Karenina was a 1911 Russian short film directed by Maurice Maître.

<i>Anna Karenina</i> (1914 film) 1914 Russian Empire film

Anna Karenina is a 1914 Russian drama film directed and written by Vladimir Gardin.

References

  1. ↑ Holston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911-1973. ISBN   978-0-7864-6062-5. This Greta Garbo-John Gilbert version of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina had its world premiere at New York City's Embassy on November 29, 1927. It played twice a day after the evening premiere. Seats were selling in advance, but it apparently was not compulsory.
  2. ↑ Alexander Walker; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (October 1980). Garbo: a portrait. Macmillan. p. 184. ISBN   978-0-02-622950-0 . Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Glancy, H. Mark (1992). "MGM film grosses, 1924-1948: The Eddie Mannix Ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 12 (2): 127–144. doi:10.1080/01439689200260081.
  4. 1 2 3 Glancy, H. Mark (1992). "Appendix". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 12 (S2): 1–20. doi:10.1080/01439689208604539.
  5. ↑ IMDB entry
  6. ↑ San Francisco Silent Film Festival
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.