Call of the Flesh
Encyclopedia
Call of the Flesh is an American musical film
directed by Charles Brabin
. The film stars Ramon Novarro
, Dorothy Jordan
, and Renée Adorée
. It featured several songs performed by Novarro and originally included a sequence photographed in Technicolor
.
This film marked Novarro's fourth film appearance with Renée Adorée, and his third with Dorothy Jordan. Charles Brabin and Novarro had previously worked together on Ben-Hur
before Brabin had been fired from that project. Novarro would later claim that he, not Brabin, actually directed most of Call of the Flesh.
Novarro insisted that Renée Adorée be cast in the film opposite him, despite the fact that she was extremely ill with tuberculosis. and the actress suffered two hemorrhages during production which almost shut the project down. In one instance, Novarro tried to convince production supervisor Hunt Stromberg
to relieve Adorée of her duties and reshoot her material with another actress, offering to waive his salary, but Stromberg insisted, against doctor's orders, that it would be too expensive. After completing her last scene, Adorée had a second hemorrhage again and lost consciousness; she was rushed to a sanitarium
in La Crescenta
. Though Adorée survived two more years, her health effectively ended her chances at a continued career. Call of the Flesh was be her last film.
of the New York Times said it was well directed but described the plot as 'somewhat lethargic.' Variety said the film was uneven overall, and the New York Morning Telegraph said the storyline was 'banal.' Despite a growing distaste for musicals among the general public, the movie was financially successful.
In some theaters, the film was accompanied by a comedy called The Great Pants Mystery. No film of this title is listed on the Internet Movie Database
. At the Capitol Theater
in New York City
, the film was accompanied by a Stepin Fetchit
performance of Bye Bye Blues
staged by Chester Hale.
Call of the Flesh has not been released on DVD or video. It has been broadcast on television, and these versions of the film do not include any footage in Technicolor, which show Novarro's performance of an aria from Pagliacci
. A still survives showing Novarro dressed as Pagliacci, posed alongside actor Ernest Torrence.
as María, along with José Soriano Viosca, Rosita Ballesteros and Michael Vavitch. Novarro's mother, Leonor Pérez Gavilán de Samaniego, makes her only film appearance as Mother Superior of the convent. Ramón Guerrero, who appears in the film, translated the original screenplay, and Novarro translated the song lyrics, assisted by Herbert Stothart
. The film cost $103,437 and premiered at the Teatro Califórnia Internacionale in Los Angeles on December 5, 1930. The production of La Sevillana marked Novarro's first performance in Spanish, his first language. It is credited with boosting the career of Conchita Montenegro.
(reprising her role), Carrie Daumery
and Ramón Guerrero. It cost $96,598 and premiered on February 21, 1931, at the Théâtre de la Madeleine
in Paris
.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
directed by Charles Brabin
Charles Brabin
Charles J. Brabin was an American film director and screenwriter. He was active during the silent era, then pursued a short-lived career in talkies....
. The film stars Ramon Novarro
Ramón Novarro
Ramón Novarro was a Mexican leading man actor in Hollywood in the early 20th century. He was the next male "Sex Symbol" after the death of Rudolph Valentino...
, Dorothy Jordan
Dorothy Jordan (film actress)
Dorothy Jordan was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.-Early career:...
, and Renée Adorée
Renée Adorée
Renée Adorée was a French actress who had appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s.-Early life:...
. It featured several songs performed by Novarro and originally included a sequence photographed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
.
Production
Filming of Call of the Flesh began on January 27, 1930 under the working title The Singer of Seville, and lasted through March. It was shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City. Before the premiere, the title was changed to Call of the Flesh because the original title made it sound too much like a musical. Ramon Novarro apparently hated the new title.This film marked Novarro's fourth film appearance with Renée Adorée, and his third with Dorothy Jordan. Charles Brabin and Novarro had previously worked together on Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1925 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace...
before Brabin had been fired from that project. Novarro would later claim that he, not Brabin, actually directed most of Call of the Flesh.
Novarro insisted that Renée Adorée be cast in the film opposite him, despite the fact that she was extremely ill with tuberculosis. and the actress suffered two hemorrhages during production which almost shut the project down. In one instance, Novarro tried to convince production supervisor Hunt Stromberg
Hunt Stromberg
Hunt Stromberg was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, including The Thin Man series, the Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald operettas, The Women,...
to relieve Adorée of her duties and reshoot her material with another actress, offering to waive his salary, but Stromberg insisted, against doctor's orders, that it would be too expensive. After completing her last scene, Adorée had a second hemorrhage again and lost consciousness; she was rushed to a sanitarium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in La Crescenta
La Crescenta-Montrose, California
La Crescenta-Montrose is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California, encompassing those parts of the Crescenta Valley not in the cities of Glendale or La Cañada Flintridge. However, both the unincorporated area and the portion of incorporated Glendale...
. Though Adorée survived two more years, her health effectively ended her chances at a continued career. Call of the Flesh was be her last film.
Cast
- Ramon NovarroRamón NovarroRamón Novarro was a Mexican leading man actor in Hollywood in the early 20th century. He was the next male "Sex Symbol" after the death of Rudolph Valentino...
as Juan - Dorothy JordanDorothy Jordan (film actress)Dorothy Jordan was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.-Early career:...
as Maria - Ernest TorrenceErnest TorrenceErnest Torrence was a Scottish born film character actor who appeared in many Hollywood films, including Broken Chains with Colleen Moore,Mantrap with Clara Bow, and Fighting Caravans with Gary Cooper and Lili Damita...
as Esteban - Nance O'Neil as Mother Superior
- Renée AdoréeRenée AdoréeRenée Adorée was a French actress who had appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s.-Early life:...
as Lola - Mathilde ComontMathilde ComontMathilde Comont was a French actress of the silent era. She appeared in 71 films between 1908 and 1937.She was born in Bordeaux, France and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
as La Rumbarita - Russell HoptonRussell HoptonRussell Hopton was an American film actor. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945.He was born in New York, New York and died of an overdose of sleeping pills in North Hollywood, California....
as Enrique
Release and reception
Call of the Flesh was released on August 16, 1930. It received mixed reviews. Mordaunt HallMordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times, from October 1924 to September 1934....
of the New York Times said it was well directed but described the plot as 'somewhat lethargic.' Variety said the film was uneven overall, and the New York Morning Telegraph said the storyline was 'banal.' Despite a growing distaste for musicals among the general public, the movie was financially successful.
In some theaters, the film was accompanied by a comedy called The Great Pants Mystery. No film of this title is listed on the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
. At the Capitol Theater
Capitol Theatre (New York City)
The Capitol Theatre was a movie palace located at 1645 Broadway, just north of Times Square in New York City, across from the Winter Garden Theatre. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the Capitol seated 4000 and opened October 24, 1919. It was one of the first of the large lavish movie theaters that...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the film was accompanied by a Stepin Fetchit
Stepin Fetchit
Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry....
performance of Bye Bye Blues
Bye Bye Blues (song)
"Bye Bye Blues" is a popular and jazz standard written by Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown, and Chauncey Gray and published in 1930.The year it was introduced it was sung by The Vikings on the NBC radio series, The Vikings. It has been recorded by many artists, but the best-known recording is one...
staged by Chester Hale.
Call of the Flesh has not been released on DVD or video. It has been broadcast on television, and these versions of the film do not include any footage in Technicolor, which show Novarro's performance of an aria from Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
. A still survives showing Novarro dressed as Pagliacci, posed alongside actor Ernest Torrence.
Alternate language versions
As with several American films made between 1930 and 1932, Call of the Flesh was remade into two alternate language versions. Novarro appears in both, reprising his role as Juan de Dios Carbajal, and directed both of them. They were filmed using a different crew and supporting cast on the same sets at MGM Studios. A German-language version, also to be directed by Novarro, was never filmed for financial reasons.La Sevillana or Sevilla de mis amores
La Sevillana was the Spanish-language version, co-starring Conchita MontenegroConchita Montenegro
Conchita Montenegro was a Spanish model, dancer, stage and screen actress. She was educated in a convent in Madrid, Spain. Montenegro had browneyes, wavy black hair, and an olive complexion...
as María, along with José Soriano Viosca, Rosita Ballesteros and Michael Vavitch. Novarro's mother, Leonor Pérez Gavilán de Samaniego, makes her only film appearance as Mother Superior of the convent. Ramón Guerrero, who appears in the film, translated the original screenplay, and Novarro translated the song lyrics, assisted by Herbert Stothart
Herbert Stothart
Herbert Stothart was a song writer, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for nine Oscars, winning Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz.-Biography:...
. The film cost $103,437 and premiered at the Teatro Califórnia Internacionale in Los Angeles on December 5, 1930. The production of La Sevillana marked Novarro's first performance in Spanish, his first language. It is credited with boosting the career of Conchita Montenegro.
Le chanteur de Séville
Le chanteur de Séville was the French-language version, adapted by Yvan Noé and Anne Mauclair, co-starring Suzy Vernon, Pierrette Caillol, Georges Mauloy, Mathilde ComontMathilde Comont
Mathilde Comont was a French actress of the silent era. She appeared in 71 films between 1908 and 1937.She was born in Bordeaux, France and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
(reprising her role), Carrie Daumery
Carrie Daumery
Carrie Daumery was a Dutch-born American film actress. She appeared in 63 films between 1908 and 1937.She was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and died in Los Angeles, California...
and Ramón Guerrero. It cost $96,598 and premiered on February 21, 1931, at the Théâtre de la Madeleine
Théâtre de la Madeleine
The Théâtre de la Madeleine is a theater in Paris built in the English style in 1924 on the site of a carousel. The first major success of the theatre came with the presentation of part one of The Merchants of Glory by Marcel Pagnol....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.