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Torrent (1926 film)
Encyclopedia
Torrent is an American silent
romantic drama film
directed by Monta Bell
(uncredited), based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
, and released on February 21, 1926.
Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo
. The film also starred Ricardo Cortez
as the son of a domineering mother, played by Martha Mattox
.
The title refers to a flood that occurs in the small town where most of the action takes place, which draws the two romantic leading characters closer together.
) daughter, Leonora (Garbo). She forbids him to see her, something that causes Leonora great heartache, to say nothing of her family's financial condition. Using the singing talent cultivated by her wannabe father Pedro, Leonara leaves her humble home to later become a sensation on the stages of Paris
, as La Brunna, where nobleman and other rich gentleman express their approval of her "talents".
Meanwhile, back in their small Spanish town of Alcira, Valencia where Leonora's father has died, Dona Bernarda Brull's domineering influence has brought Rafael to the brink of being elected to office. She's also arranged for her son to marry the wealthy Remedios Matías (Gertrude Olmstead
), the daughter of a rich hog farmer (Mack Swain
). However, just before both of these events are realized, La Brunna returns to her humble beginnings to visit her mother Pepa (Lucy Beaumont
) and barber friend Cupido (Lucien Littlefield
). Incognito, she gives Rafael the impression that she is still poor, and nearly destitute. When the proud soon to be elected official visits Cupido, Leonara reveals that she is the famous La Brunna. Naturally, he is irresistibly drawn to her, which though it doesn't keep his inevitable election from happening, it does threaten his marriage to Remedios ... that is until his mother intervenes once again. Some time after the flood (the torrent), though not on that particular night, Leonara and Rafael spend a night of passion together amidst the orange groves, Dona Bernarda Brull visits Pepa to tell her of the shame which has been brought upon her home.
La Brunna returns to her life on the stage in Madrid
while Rafael marries Remedios. Shortly afterwards however, Rafael follows his Leonara to declare his undying love for her once again, seemingly ready to throw away his life for her. She is thrilled and, with her maid (Lillian Leighton
), packs her bags to await his return. Rafael's wise lawyer
friend Don Andrés (Tully Marshall
) intervenes on behalf of his mother and the community he serves to convince him to do otherwise, and Leonara is alone again.
Years pass and a much older looking Rafael visits La Brunna, who doesn't appear to have aged since last they met. This time he is ready to leave his wife and children for her, but she is unwilling to be the cause of it. He returns to his home looking over his sleeping little ones while La Brunna completes another performance with adoring fans. In the end La Brunna sits alone forlornly thinking of love lost as the credits roll.
. In her first American film she was cast as Leonara, the Spanish peasant girl, and MGM executives were pleased with the results.
After the film was released, Variety
magazine described Garbo on her debut as " a girl with everything, looks, acting ability and personality". The film grossed $668,000 worldwide, netting a $126,000 profit for MGM. Louis B. Mayer
's initial instinct about the actress's ability paid off, and the film was a success. The Torrent was released on DVD in 2011 as part of the Warner Archive Collection
.
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...
romantic drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Monta Bell
Monta Bell
Monta Bell was an American film director, film producer and film editor.-Biography:Starting as a journalist in Washington DC, Bell later played on stage and entered films in 1923 as an actor. Charlie Chaplin employed Bell as a film editor and assistant director and in 1924, he became a...
(uncredited), based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
, and released on February 21, 1926.
Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
. The film also starred Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez
Jacob Krantz , known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent era.-Life and career:...
as the son of a domineering mother, played by Martha Mattox
Martha Mattox
Martha Mattox was an American silent film actor most notable for her role of Mammy Pleasant in the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary. She also played a role in Torrent...
.
The title refers to a flood that occurs in the small town where most of the action takes place, which draws the two romantic leading characters closer together.
Plot
The wealthy matriarch Dona Bernarda Brull (Mattox) is irritated by her son Rafael's infatuation with the orange farmer's (Edward ConnellyEdward Connelly
Edward Connelly was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. He had a long established Broadway theatre career going back to the Victorian era...
) daughter, Leonora (Garbo). She forbids him to see her, something that causes Leonora great heartache, to say nothing of her family's financial condition. Using the singing talent cultivated by her wannabe father Pedro, Leonara leaves her humble home to later become a sensation on the stages of 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...
, as La Brunna, where nobleman and other rich gentleman express their approval of her "talents".
Meanwhile, back in their small Spanish town of Alcira, Valencia where Leonora's father has died, Dona Bernarda Brull's domineering influence has brought Rafael to the brink of being elected to office. She's also arranged for her son to marry the wealthy Remedios Matías (Gertrude Olmstead
Gertrude Olmstead
Gertrude Olmstead was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929.-Career:...
), the daughter of a rich hog farmer (Mack Swain
Mack Swain
Mack Swain was an American actor and vaudevillian, prolific throughout the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.-Film career:...
). However, just before both of these events are realized, La Brunna returns to her humble beginnings to visit her mother Pepa (Lucy Beaumont
Lucy Beaumont
Lucy Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol, England. She was the daughter of Sir Albert and Helen Coles. She was educated at a young ladies' college in Bath, England....
) and barber friend Cupido (Lucien Littlefield
Lucien Littlefield
Lucien Littlefield was an American actor in the silent film era...
). Incognito, she gives Rafael the impression that she is still poor, and nearly destitute. When the proud soon to be elected official visits Cupido, Leonara reveals that she is the famous La Brunna. Naturally, he is irresistibly drawn to her, which though it doesn't keep his inevitable election from happening, it does threaten his marriage to Remedios ... that is until his mother intervenes once again. Some time after the flood (the torrent), though not on that particular night, Leonara and Rafael spend a night of passion together amidst the orange groves, Dona Bernarda Brull visits Pepa to tell her of the shame which has been brought upon her home.
La Brunna returns to her life on the stage in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
while Rafael marries Remedios. Shortly afterwards however, Rafael follows his Leonara to declare his undying love for her once again, seemingly ready to throw away his life for her. She is thrilled and, with her maid (Lillian Leighton
Lillian Leighton
Lillian Brown Leighton was an American silent film actress. She was signed in 1910 and starred in over 200 films before her retirement in 1940.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
), packs her bags to await his return. Rafael's wise lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
friend Don Andrés (Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall
William Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
) intervenes on behalf of his mother and the community he serves to convince him to do otherwise, and Leonara is alone again.
Years pass and a much older looking Rafael visits La Brunna, who doesn't appear to have aged since last they met. This time he is ready to leave his wife and children for her, but she is unwilling to be the cause of it. He returns to his home looking over his sleeping little ones while La Brunna completes another performance with adoring fans. In the end La Brunna sits alone forlornly thinking of love lost as the credits roll.
Cast
- Ricardo CortezRicardo CortezJacob Krantz , known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent era.-Life and career:...
as Don Rafael Brull - Greta GarboGreta GarboGreta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
as Leonora Moreno, aka La Brunna - Gertrude OlmsteadGertrude OlmsteadGertrude Olmstead was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929.-Career:...
as Remedios Matías - Edward ConnellyEdward ConnellyEdward Connelly was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. He had a long established Broadway theatre career going back to the Victorian era...
as Pedro Moreno - Lucien LittlefieldLucien LittlefieldLucien Littlefield was an American actor in the silent film era...
as Cupido, the Barber - Martha MattoxMartha MattoxMartha Mattox was an American silent film actor most notable for her role of Mammy Pleasant in the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary. She also played a role in Torrent...
as Doña Bernarda Brull - Lucy BeaumontLucy BeaumontLucy Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol, England. She was the daughter of Sir Albert and Helen Coles. She was educated at a young ladies' college in Bath, England....
as Doña Pepa Moreno - Tully MarshallTully MarshallWilliam Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
as Don Andrés, a Lawyer - Mack SwainMack SwainMack Swain was an American actor and vaudevillian, prolific throughout the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.-Film career:...
as Don Matías - Arthur Edmund CareweArthur Edmund CareweArthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...
as Salvatti (as Arthur Edmund Carew) - Lillian LeightonLillian LeightonLillian Brown Leighton was an American silent film actress. She was signed in 1910 and starred in over 200 films before her retirement in 1940.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as Isabella, La Brunna's Maid - Mario Carillo as King of Spain (uncredited)
- André CheronAndré ChéronAndré Chéron was a French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies. He lived in Switzerland for many years...
as Man in Audience (uncredited) - Dorothy SebastianDorothy SebastianDorothy Sebastian was an American film and stage actress.-Early life and career:Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In her youth she hoped to be a dancer and later a film actress. Her family frowned on both ambitions, however, so she fled to New York at the age of 15...
as Woman in Audience (uncredited)
Reception
Producers of The Torrent were uncertain how to cast Garbo as she arrived in HollywoodClassical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...
. In her first American film she was cast as Leonara, the Spanish peasant girl, and MGM executives were pleased with the results.
After the film was released, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine described Garbo on her debut as " a girl with everything, looks, acting ability and personality". The film grossed $668,000 worldwide, netting a $126,000 profit for MGM. Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
's initial instinct about the actress's ability paid off, and the film was a success. The Torrent was released on DVD in 2011 as part of the Warner Archive Collection
Warner Archive Collection
The Warner Archive Collection is a manufactured-on-demand DVD series. It was started by Warner Home Video on March 23, 2009 with the intention of putting previously unreleased back catalog films on DVD for the first time ever. Using recordable DVDs, they custom burn discs for each order rather than...
.
Technical specifications
- Film length (metres) – 2063.19 m (7 reels)
- Film negative format (mm/video inches) – 35 mm
- Cinematographic process – Spherical
- Printed film format – 35 mm
- Aspect ratio – 1.33 : 1