Madame Pompadour | |
---|---|
Directed by | Herbert Wilcox |
Written by | Ewald André Dupont Frances Marion Rudolph Schanzer (operetta) Ernst Welisch (operetta) |
Produced by | Ewald André Dupont |
Starring | Dorothy Gish Antonio Moreno Henri Bosc Nelson Keys |
Music by | Leo Fall |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount British Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £80,000 [1] |
Madame Pompadour is a 1927 British silent historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish, Antonio Moreno and Nelson Keys. [2] The film depicts the life of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV of France. It was the first film to be shot at the newly christened Elstree Studios. [3]
In 18th-century France, the King's mistress Madame Pompadour (Dorothy Gish), frees her jailed lover, political prisoner Rene Laval (Antonio Moreno), to make him her bodyguard.
Gish and Wilcox had just enjoyed a big hit with Nell Gwyn. British National Pictures and Paramount signed them to make three more movies of which this was the first.
Gish was paid £1500 a week for six weeks. Filming was delayed an extra three weeks and this added a large amount to the budget and almost brought the film to a standstill. [4]
Wilcox was paid £3000 for a film plus 25% of the profits but there were none. [1]
Allmovie wrote, "Dorothy Gish's screen vehicles for British director Herbert Wilcox were usually a treat, but her 1927 film Madame Pompadour tended to be weighed down by the ponderous stylistic choices of its producer, Germany's E. A. DuPont....Madame Pompadour was an especially lavish and handsome production. Unfortunately, despite its brief 75-minute running time, the film moved at a snail's pace." [5]
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American stage and screen actress. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great success on the stage, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Dorothy Gish was noted as a fine comedian, and many of her films were comedies.
Maria Josepha Karolina Eleonore Franziska Xaveria of Saxony was Dauphine of France through her marriage to Louis, the son and heir of Louis XV. Marie Josèphe was the mother of three kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X, as well as Madame Élisabeth.
Antonio Garrido Monteagudo, better known as Antonio Moreno or Tony Moreno, was a Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.
Madame Pompadour is an operetta in three acts, composed by Leo Fall with a libretto by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch. Conducted by the composer, it opened at the Berliner Theater in Berlin on 9 September 1922 and then at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 2 March 1923.
Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE was a British film producer and director.
Nell Gwyn is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, Jeanne de Casalis, Miles Malleson and Moore Marriott. The film portrays the historical romance between Charles II of England and the actress Nell Gwyn. In the opening credits, the dialogue is credited to "King Charles II, Samuel Pepys and Nell Gwyn" with additional dialogue by Miles Malleson. It was also released as Mistress Nell Gwyn.
Limelight is a 1936 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Arthur Tracy, Anna Neagle and Jane Winton. It was released in the U.S. as Backstage.
Money Means Nothing is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring John Loder, Irene Richards and Miles Malleson. It was shot at Elstree Studios as a quota quickie for release by Paramount British.
Bitter Sweet is a British musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and released by United Artists in 1933. It was the first film adaptation of Noël Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet. It starred Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey, with Ivy St. Helier reviving her stage role as Manon. It was made at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios and was part of a boom in operetta films during the 1930s.
London is a 1926 British silent romantic drama film, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish. The film was adapted by Wilcox from a short story by popular author Thomas Burke. The British Film Institute considers this to be a lost film.
Wolves is a 1930 British crime film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Charles Laughton, Dorothy Gish and Malcolm Keen. The screenplay concerns a woman who is captured by a gang of criminals operating in the Arctic, only for the leader to later help her escape. It was based on a play by Georges Toudouze. It was produced by Herbert Wilcox's British and Dominions Film Corporation, but filmed at the Blattner Studios whilst sound equipment was being installed at Wilcox's nearby Imperial Studios, and the sound was added after filming was completed. It was Gish's first sound film, and was Laughton's second talkie, having completed a film of a musical variety performance earlier the same year. Of 57 minutes original duration, it was released in 1936 in a 37-minute version retitled "Wanted Men".
Flames of Passion is a 1922 British silent film drama directed by Graham Cutts, starred Mae Marsh and C. Aubrey Smith.
Tip Toes is a 1927 British silent film comedy-drama, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish and Will Rogers. The film is a loose adaptation of the stage musical Tip-Toes, with the action transferred from Florida to London.
Nell Gwyn is a 1926 British silent romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish, Randle Ayrton and Juliette Compton. It was based on the 1926 novel Mistress Nell Gwyn by Marjorie Bowen and follows the life of Nell Gwynne, the mistress of Charles II. Wilcox later made a second version of the film in 1934, Nell Gwynn which starred Anna Neagle.
Mistress Nell Gwyn is the title of the New York edition of an historical novel by the British writer Marjorie Bowen. The book was also published in London with the title Nell Gwyn: A Decoration. The book was first published in 1926.
Lilacs in the Spring is a 1954 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn and David Farrar. The film was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Shot in Trucolor it was distributed in Britain by Republic Pictures. It was the first of two films Neagle and Flynn made together, the other being King's Rhapsody. It was released in the United States as Let's Make Up.
Imperial Studios were the studios of the British and Dominions Film Corporation, a short-lived British film production company located at Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The studios were active from 1929 to 1936, when they were destroyed by fire.
Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764) was a member of the French court and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV.
Fame is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Sydney Howard, Muriel Aked and Miki Hood. It was made at Elstree Studios.