Camille (1926 film)
Encyclopedia
Camille is a silent film
based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias
by Alexandre Dumas, fils
. The film was adapted by Fred De Gresac, George Marion Jr.
, Olga Printzlau
and Chandler Sprague, directed by Fred Niblo
, and starred Norma Talmadge
, Gilbert Roland
, and Lilyan Tashman
. It was produced by the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation and released by First National Pictures. The film's score was composed by William Axt
.
. However, the Douris Corporation reportedly has three double reels of 35mm
nitrate film, which may be the complete film. Clips are available from Archive Films, but the film has never been released to video or television. (Source: IMDB)
was filmed by artist Ralph Barton
, featuring Charlie Chaplin
, Paul Robeson
, Aileen Pringle
, Richard Barthelmess
, lawyer Clarence Darrow
, and writers Anita Loos
, George Jean Nathan
, Sinclair Lewis
, Theodore Dreiser
, and Somerset Maugham. This home movie version was released on the Warner Home Video
DVD of Chaplin's A Woman of Paris
(1923) and A King in New York
(1957) as a special feature.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias
The Lady of the Camellias
The Lady of the Camellias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set...
by Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
. The film was adapted by Fred De Gresac, George Marion Jr.
George Marion Jr.
George Marion Jr. was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 106 films between 1920 and 1940.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in New York, New York from a heart attack. His father was George F...
, Olga Printzlau
Olga Printzlau
Olga Printzlau was an American screenwriter. She wrote for 69 films between 1915 and 1933.She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
and Chandler Sprague, directed by Fred Niblo
Fred Niblo
Fred Niblo was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.-Biography:He was born Frederick Liedtke in York, Nebraska, to a French mother and a father who had served as a captain in the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg...
, and starred Norma Talmadge
Norma Talmadge
Norma Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through , but she also...
, Gilbert Roland
Gilbert Roland
Gilbert Roland was a Mexican-born American film actor.He was born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and originally intended to become a bullfighter like his father. When the family moved to the United States, however, he became interested in acting when he was...
, and Lilyan Tashman
Lilyan Tashman
Lilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'...
. It was produced by the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation and released by First National Pictures. The film's score was composed by William Axt
William Axt
William Axt was an American composer of nearly two hundred film scores.Born in New York City, Axt graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx and studied at the National Conservatory of Music of America...
.
Preservation status
There are no known copies of this film extant — or at least in circulation — so it is thought to be a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
. However, the Douris Corporation reportedly has three double reels of 35mm
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
nitrate film, which may be the complete film. Clips are available from Archive Films, but the film has never been released to video or television. (Source: IMDB)
Home movie version
Also in 1926, a 33-minute "home movie" version of CamilleCamille (Barton film)
Camille is a short film by Ralph Barton, the creation of which is described in Bruce Kellner's The Last Dandy, a biography of Barton....
was filmed by artist Ralph Barton
Ralph Barton
Ralph Barton was an American artist best known for his cartoons and caricatures of actors and other celebrities...
, featuring Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, Aileen Pringle
Aileen Pringle
Aileen Pringle was an American stage and film actress during the silent film era.-Early life:Born Aileen Bisbee into a prominent and wealthy San Francisco, California family and educated in Europe, Pringle began her acting career shortly after her 1916 marriage to Charles McKenzie Pringle, the son...
, Richard Barthelmess
Richard Barthelmess
Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...
, lawyer Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
, and writers Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
, George Jean Nathan
George Jean Nathan
George Jean Nathan was an American drama critic and editor.-Early life:Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana...
, Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
, Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
, and Somerset Maugham. This home movie version was released on the Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
DVD of Chaplin's A Woman of Paris
A Woman of Paris
A Woman of Paris is a feature-length silent film that debuted in 1923. The film, an atypical drama film for its creator, was written, directed, produced and later scored by Charlie Chaplin. It is also known as A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate....
(1923) and A King in New York
A King in New York
A King in New York is a 1957 British comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, which presents a satirical view of certain aspects of United States politics and society. The film was produced in Europe after Chaplin's exile from the US in 1952...
(1957) as a special feature.
Cast
- Norma TalmadgeNorma TalmadgeNorma Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through , but she also...
- Marguerite Gautier,Camille - Gilbert RolandGilbert RolandGilbert Roland was a Mexican-born American film actor.He was born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and originally intended to become a bullfighter like his father. When the family moved to the United States, however, he became interested in acting when he was...
- Armand - Lilyan TashmanLilyan TashmanLilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'...
- Olympe - Rose DioneRose DioneRose Dione was a French born actress of the silent era. She appeared in 68 films between 1910 and 1932. She was often billed as Madame Rose or Madame Dion...
- Prudence - Oscar Beregi, Sr. - Count de Varville
- Harvey ClarkHarvey Clark (actor)Harvey Clark was an American actor on stage and screen. He appeared in 198 films between 1915 and 1938.He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart attack....
- The Baaron - Helen Jerome EddyHelen Jerome EddyHelen Jerome Eddy was a motion picture actress from New York, New York. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm .-Biography:...
- Camille's maid - Alec B. FrancisAlec B. FrancisAlec B. Francis was an English actor, largely of the silent era. He appeared in 241 films between 1911 and 1934.He was born in London and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:...
- the Duke - Albert Conti - Henri
- Michael VisaroffMichael VisaroffMichael Visaroff was a Russian-born film actor. He appeared in 113 films between 1925 and 1952. He was best known for his uncredited appearance in an early scene of Dracula as the nervous Hungarian innkeeper who, as Renfield is traveling to meet the Count, warns him about the actual existence of...
- Camille's Father - Evelyn SelbieEvelyn SelbieEvelyn Selbie was a stage actress and performer in silent films.Born in Louisville, Kentucky, as a young woman she was a side-saddle rider. She had a career which lasted twenty-five years on the stage. She began in Proctor's stock companies in New York after leaving her home. She acted in plays...
- Camille's Mother - Etta Lee - Mataloti
- Maurice CostelloMaurice CostelloMaurice Costello was a prominent vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s, who later played a principal role in early American films, as both a leading man, supporting player and a director....
- Armand's father
