The Blackguard | |
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Directed by | Graham Cutts |
Written by | |
Based on | The Blackguard by Raymond Paton |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Theodor Sparkuhl |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Wardour Films (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 1 hour 36 min. |
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The Blackguard (German : Die Prinzessin und der Geiger) is a 1925 British-German silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Jane Novak, Walter Rilla, and Frank Stanmore. [1] [2] The film is set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution during which a violinist saves a princess from execution.
As described in a film magazine review, [3] Michael Caviol, violinist, after he has been hit on the head sees visions in which he is dominated by a god-like creature, Maliol, who promises him success so long as he loves nothing but his art. He becomes famous but shuns the love of woman until he loses his heart to the Russian princess Marie Idourska. The Revolution breaks out, and the princess is threatened with death. Michael finds the leader to be Adrian Levenski, his former music master. He obtains two passports from Levenski and effects Marie's escape. Levenski and Michael fight and the latter is thrown into a flaming building, escaping but being badly burned in the process. While praying in a church, Marie enters and kneels beside him, now no longer a princess but still his love.
The film was a co-production between Gainsborough Studios and UFA initiating a decade-long series of co-productions which ended with the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1930s. [4] The film was based on the 1923 novel The Blackguard by Raymond Paton, and shot at Studio Babelsberg, in Potsdam near Berlin, the first time a Gainsborough film was shot abroad. The film was one of a number of films made in this genre during the 1920s, the most successful of which was the American film The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927). [5]
While working on the film, Alfred Hitchcock was able to study several films being made nearby, including The Last Laugh (1924) by F. W. Murnau, which were a major influence on his later work.
Prints of The Blackguard are located in several film archives and it has been released on dvd. [2]
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, northeast London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The company was initially based at Islington Studios, which were built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway and later converted to studios.
Michael is a 1924 German silent drama film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, director of other notable silents such as The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Master of the House (1925), and Leaves from Satan's Book (1921). The film stars Walter Slezak as the titular Michael, the young assistant and model to the artist Claude Zoret. Along with Different From the Others (1919) and Sex in Chains (1928), Michael is widely considered a landmark in gay silent cinema.
The Volga Boatman is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, who reportedly said the film was, "his greatest achievement in picture making". The film's budget was $479,000 and it grossed $1.27 million. The film was highly successful, turning William Boyd into matinee idol overnight.
Jane Novak was an American actress of the silent film era.
Willy Fritsch was a German theater and film actor, a popular leading man and character actor from the silent-film era to the early 1960s.
Erich Pommer was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s.
The Only Thing is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film starring Eleanor Boardman. The film's scenario was written by author Elinor Glyn, and was based on a story adapted from Glyn's novel of the same name.
Walter Rilla was a German film actor of Jewish descent. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1922 and 1977. He was born in Neunkirchen, Germany and died in Rosenheim, Germany.
John Henry Graham Cutts, known as Graham Cutts, was a British film director, one of the leading British directors in the 1920s. His fellow director A. V. Bramble believed that Gainsborough Pictures had been built on the back of his work.
The Blackguard is 1923 novel by Raymond Paton. It is a melodrama set during the Russian Revolution of 1917. A French violinist rescues a Russian princess from execution at the hands of revolutionaries led by his former mentor.
The Prude's Fall is a 1925 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Jane Novak, Julanne Johnston, and Warwick Ward.
Torment is a 1924 American silent crime drama film produced and directed by Maurice Tourneur and distributed by Associated First National. This film stars Bessie Love, Owen Moore, and Jean Hersholt. The film is based on a story by William Dudley Pelley with script by Fred Myton and titles by Marion Fairfax. It is a lost film.
Villa Falconieri is a 1928 German-Italian silent drama film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Maria Jacobini, Hans Stüwe, and Eve Gray. It was based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Richard Voss.
Fire of Love is a 1925 German silent film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Liane Haid, Alfons Fryland, and Walter Rilla.
Princess Olala is a 1928 German silent drama film directed by Robert Land and starring Carmen Boni, Walter Rilla, Marlene Dietrich and Hans Albers. It is also known by the alternative title of Art of Love. It was made at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Robert Neppach.
The Lure of the Wild is a 1925 American silent melodrama film directed by Frank R. Strayer and starring Alan Roscoe, Jane Novak, and Lightning the Dog. It was produced and released by Columbia Pictures.
The Love Toy is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Lowell Sherman, Jane Winton, and Willard Louis. The film was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers.
The Fearless Lover is a lost 1925 American silent drama film directed by Scott R. Dunlap and Henry MacRae and starring William Fairbanks, Eva Novak, and Tom Kennedy.
Northern Code is a 1925 American silent Northern romantic drama film directed by Leon De La Mothe and starring Robert Ellis, Eva Novak, and Josef Swickard.