Scaramouche

Hats off to Rex Ingram. Scaramouche, like his other gorgeously mounted adventure sagas The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Prisoner of Zenda, or Ben-Hur (which he co-directed) illustrate clearly how the art of cinema took a body blow with the coming of sound, recovery from which took several years. The kinds of stunning compositions and environmental detail that were possible before the soundtrack era had to be jettisoned just for the sake of miking, so we lost much of this intensive artistry. Visually this film is every bit as impressive as Selznick's A Tale of Two Cities, or Korda's The Scarlet Pimpernel, both made well into the sound era over a decade later. Ingram was a visionary, right up there with Griffith, Stroheim and early DeMille. This film is beautiful right down to the title cards.

In this tale of the French Revolution we are treated to large doses of "The Masses," as in the later Selznick Tale of Two Cities. In fact, these masses are so vividly presented that one suspects that Selznick borrowed some of his imagery from Ingram. Like The Scarlet Pimpernel, Scaramouche is a participant in the events of the era. But whereas the Pimpernel used ingenious disguises and impersonations to save selected aristocrats from the guillotine, Scaramouche uses his position as popular comedic stage actor and skilled swordsman to rouse the masses to revolutionary action and successfully duel to the death with reactionary members of the National Assembly. Ramon Novarro, who plays the title character, was second only to Valentino as a heartthrob of the silent era but his countenance and manner were gentler. Lewis Stone, best known for his stern but benign elder patriarch roles in talkies, was once the dashing, chiselled-featured leading man on display here. Alice Terry as the love interest reminds us of how cinematic standards of beauty have changed. Her costuming and coiffure notwithstanding, there is a pre-20th-century quality to her, as if she stepped out of a painting or daguerrotype.

In the late 1700s France, Andre-Louis Moreau (Ramon Novarro) becomes a rebel against aristocracy after his friend is killed by the evil de la Tour d'Azy (Lewis Stone). Unfortunately the woman he loves Aline (Alice Terry) is part of the aristocracy.

Elaborate, well-directed with a cast of (seemingly) thousands this is a superb drama--it's just now getting its due on a stunning brand-new print showing on TCM. Alice Terry is just gorgeous as Aline--she's breath-takingly beautiful (that comes as no surprise--director Rex Ingram was her husband) and also one heck of an actress; Lewis Stone is convincingly slimy and cruel as the villain; best of all is Novarro. Easily one of the best-looking men ever it's easy to see why he was the top box office draw of his day. Looks aside, his acting was superb--he doesn't over emote (like some silent screen actors did) and was believable every step of the way. Sadly his career was destroyed because he was gay and homophobia was riding high at MGM. This man's acting and movies deserve some overdue recognition.

The movie moves at a brisk pace, there's never a dull moment and has a very moving finale (although I had guessed the two twists at the end). A definite must-see!

Actor Ramon Novarro was coming off his biggest role yet in his young acting career as a villain in 1922's 'The Prisoner of Zelda,' when friend and director Rex Ingram offered him the lead as the hero in February 1923's "Scaramouche." The French Revolution swashbuckler proved to be Novarro's breakout role, catapulting him to become one of Hollywood's most popular screen performers in the early 1920's.

"Scaramouche," based on the 1921 Rafael Sabatini best seller, was a massive undertaking for its production studio, Metro Pictures. Ingram, also the producer, spent several months assisting in adapting the unwieldy novel's plot into a cohesive two-hour movie. He also oversaw elaborate sets duplicating late 18th-century Paris and hiring 1,500 extras, expenses that caused delays and over budgeted costs .

Metro's marketing publicity department saved the day. Knowing the box office appeal of rival sex-symbol actor Rudolph Valentino, the studio recognized that in its very own Mexican actor Novarro, it had an equally handsome male counterpart. Casting him as the hero in "Scaramouche," Metro benefited from his screen charisma. Ingram's multiple close-ups on his actors, especially with Novarro, highlighted Hollywood's new Latin lover's distinctive facial lines, guaranteed to send female fans swooning. The sword fights adapted from the novel, highlighted by Novarro's one with his arch nemesis, Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (Lewis Stone), has been cited as one of cinema's first realistically-performed fencing duels. The lush sets, especially in the second half with teeming crowds hungry for revolution, created a movie rivaling the year's best epics.

"Scaramouche," with a prodigious roadshow, eventually recouped it's enormous outlays. The movie was 1923's fourth highest box office hit in the United States, and it broke ticket sale records in Paris and London. The lavish film was benefited by having one of Hollywood's sexiest male actors in Novarro driving scores of women to the movie theaters to view his eye-catching close-ups.

Sticking a whole lot closer to the Rafael Sabatini novel than the MGM remake with Stewart Granger in the Fifties, the silent Scaramouche was an important milestone in the career of Ramon Novarro. It was also one of the bigger moneymakers of Metro Pictures before it combined the following year as part of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer colossus. Novarro's box office appeal was one of the bigger assets the newly created MGM acquired.

Novarro strikes the right notes of passion, romance, and swashbuckling derring-do as the young lawyer of questionable parentage who starts an odyssey of adventure when he runs afoul of nobleman Lewis Stone when he calls him out after Stone who is a master swordsman kills young Otto Matieson in a one sided contest.

With the authorities looking for him in the France of Louis XVI, Novarro takes refuge in a troupe of strolling players and plays the famous clown character Scaramouche. Before the film France falls to the Revolutionary Terror and Novarro discovers his true heritage and his true love.

Scaramouche firmly established Novarro as the number one rival of Latin Lover Rudolphe Valentino. In fact Novarro seemed to be able to handle a bigger variety of roles in silent films than Valentino. Of course we'll never know what Valentino might have done in the sound era.

Lewis Stone as the villainous nobleman who is the bane of Novarro's existence is a far cry from Judge Hardy of Carvel, the ever wise father of Mickey Rooney and Cecilia Parker later on. But Stone from the time he was on stage before the Spanish American War handled a variety of parts in stock companies and Broadway. Those were the days where you had these local theater groups to learn your trade and Stone learned it better than most. He and Lionel Barrymore were mainstays in just about every MGM production of note while they were with the studio.

Scaramouche is a deserved silent classic and don't miss it when TCM decides to run it.

Fleeing from the wrath of the vengeful Nobility, a young Frenchman joins a troupe of actors. Winning fame as the clown SCARAMOUCHE, the stalwart fellow finds himself drawn into the events surrounding the start of the Revolution.

Following his big movie hit of the previous year - 1922's THE PRISONER OF ZENDA - director Rex Ingram discovered that cinematic lightning could indeed strike twice with this very fine adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's swashbuckling novel, "Scaramouche." Metro gave the production a high gloss, with excellent atmospherics, richly detailed exteriors & rousing mob scenes. It is always refreshing, in any epic film, to see every penny the studio invested represented on the screen.

Ingram reunited his principal cast from ZENDA - Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone & Alice Terry - as stars for SCARAMOUCHE. Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as sensitive lover or dueling revolutionary, with this performance Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks. Stone gives a finely nuanced performance as the villain of the story, slowly revealing layers to the man's personality not readily apparent at first. Miss Terry, who was Ingram's wife, is lovely, but the plot gives her little to do except look distressed or frightened.

In the supporting cast, special note should be given to George Siegmann, striking in the historical role of Danton. Edward Connelly, as the King's Minister, makes a marvelous grotesque.

It is interesting to note that Italian-born British author Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) had been a novelist for many years before striking gold with "Scaramouche." Its popularity with the public, to say nothing of this acclaimed movie adaptation, pushed it permanently onto that small shelf of fiction (and films) - "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Scarlet Pimpernel" & ORPHANS OF THE STORM - forever associated with the French Revolution. Sabatini also wrote the swashbuckler adventure novels "The Sea Hawk" & "Captain Blood."