Plakatmotiv Scaramouche, © Metro Pictures CorporationSinossi (in Tedesco)
André-Louis Moreau, a law student, vows to fight against the aristocracy when his friend Philippe is killed in a duel with the Marquis de la Tour. André deserts his guardians and his sweetheart Aline and joins a group of strolling musicians, finding himself in Paris at the outbreak of the Revolution. Caught in a mob determined to destroy the ruling class, André discovers that his father is the much-despised Marquis de la Tour and his mother is a countess. André pleads with the crowds to let his mother's carriage pass out of the city, while his father dies a nobleman's death in the crowds. (AFI)
«SCARAMOUCHE - Starring Ramon Novarro and Alice Terry: We wonder if anything in the world has been more thoroly dramatized than the French Revolution. Now comes Rex Ingram's worthy "Scaramouche" which gives us France in those troubled days immediately preceding the Revolution. And while the historical characters of this time have mingled frequently of late with the fictitious characters of the screen, never before have they possessed such physical accuracy.
"Scaramouche" borders perilously near the spectacle group but, after all, it is of a nobleman who joins the people under the guise of a performer. . . there, coming by his name of Scaramouche . . . in order that he may avenge the death of his friend. So you are not irritated by the import given to spectacular things. Nor are they permitted to obliterate the activities of those people in whose fortunes you are most vitally interested.
Really, the acting honors must be divided between Ramon Novarro and Lewis Stone. For while Alice Terry is beautiful to see in the white wig and brocaded satins and laces of the heroine, she is given few emotional opportunities. Lewis Stone corroborates his splendid reputation as an actor in the conniving and unpleasant role of the noble. And Ramon Novarro in the title role does finer things than he has ever done before.
All in all, Rex Ingram, has done well with "Scaramouche." It will probably stand as one of the best pictures of the year. "Scaramouche" stands out brilliantly in the procession of screen offerings; but it does not point the way to any cinematic Utopia.» (MOTION PICTURE, January, 1923)
«Scaramouche (1923) - Directed by Rex Ingram, this Rafael Sabatini novel was adapted by Willis Goldbeck, and was later remade with Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer, Richard Anderson, Eleanor Parker, Nina Foch & Janet Leigh (among others) by George Sidney in a much different adaptation that was released in 1952. Having not read the novel, I can only assume that this was a more faithful telling, though somewhat less entertaining, than the remake. The restoration is excellent, a crisp clean print of this exceptional silent, and classic story. This one stars heartthrob Ramon Novarro and Lewis Stone (The Patriot (1928)), among others.
The story is set around the time of the French Revolution, and the peasants are getting fed up with the ways of the aristocracy. They are looking for a voice, someone to rally behind against the tyranny, and they find it in nobleman André-Louis Moreau (Novarro), the godson of Quintin de Kercadiou (Lloyd Ingraham). Quintin's niece is Aline (Alice Terry), who's won the affections of the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (Stone), the scourge of the common man. The Marquis is a master swordsman who duels and defeats (kills?) all challengers to the throne's rule.
Though the film boasts many lavish sets, there is not as much mystery or intrigue in this original as there is in the Granger-Ferrer version, which also features Stone in another role. Not the same love triangle conflict for Aline as there is for Leigh's character, and not the same resolution to the unknown kinship between Stone's & Novarro's either. Plus, the "man behind the mask" angle is downplayed and the Eleanor Parker character is non-existent in this version. Still, it's amazing to see the production values in this one and its length is unusually long, without becoming tedious or boring, for the time.» (Classic Film Guide)
Osservazione generali (in Tedesco): On 5 December 2000, Turner Classic Movies broadcast a 124-minute version with a new musical score written by Jeffrey Mark Silverman and played by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Ostravia, Czech Republic, conducted by Hugh Munro Neely. It was the first time Scaramouche (1923) was ever shown on television.
General Information
Scaramouche is a motion picture produced in the year 1923 as a Stati Uniti production. The Film was directed by Rex Ingram, with Lloyd Ingraham, Alice Terry, Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone, Julia Swayne Gordon, in the leading parts.Bibliografia - The Film Daily, January 13, 1923, pg 3 [production note]
- Pictures and Picturegoer, April 1923, pg 51 [production note]
- J.L., Le Roman d'un Roi, Mon Cine Nr. 60, 12. April 1923, pg 18f;
- Variety, September 20, 1923, pg 23
- Motion Picture Classic, October, 1923
- New York Times, October 1, 1923, pg 2
- Variety, October 4, 1923, pg 22
- Film Daily, October 14, 1923
- Cambridge Tribune, November 24, 1923 [review]
- Photoplay, December 1923, pg 72 [review]
- Evening Telegram, New York, December 2, 1923 [review]
- Pictures and Picturegoer, 1924, January, pg 19;
- Program, The Capitol Theatre, New York, February 17, 1924
- Illustrierter Filmkurier N° 108, 6. Jahrgang, Berlin 1924
- Comment fu réalisé "Scaramouche", Ciné-Miroir, XXXX, 1924, pg 218f
- Scaramouche, Ciné-Miroir N°, 1924, August 15, pg 243f
- Paul Pierry: Un Film Américain sur la Révolution Française, Mon Ciné Nr. 121, 12. Juni 1924, pg 8f;
- Films Pittaluga, 15. September 1924, pg 292ff;
- Pictures and Picturegoer, December, 1924, pg 51f
- Al Cinema, Vol IV / N° 10, Torino, March 8, 1925
- DeWitt Bodeen, Films in Review, March 1975, Alice Terry Filmography # 14;
- Vittorio Martinelli, L'eterna invasione, Gemona 2002, pg 518 f
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