Tempest

1928 was a year for Russian Revolution stories in Hollywood movies. Probably the best was von Sternberg's THE LAST COMMAND with Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell giving great performances. This piece has great performances from John Barrymore and Louis Wollheim, but the female lead, Camillia Horn, producer Joseph Schenck's mistress, gives a performance that is largely composed of staring haughtily. Well, it's the way her part is written, I suppose in this melodramatic tripe. She despises Barrymore, she loves Barrymore, she despises Barrymore, then comes the revolution....

Even uncredited directing by Lewis Milestone couldn't help. Horn can't have been a bad actress with a sixty-year career in Germany, but she made this movie and the stinker ETERNAL LOVE in Hollywood, again with Barrymore under Lubitsch's direction and returned to Germany. Maybe she stared haughtily at Schenck too often.

What is worthwhile in this film is the late silent camerawork, courtesy of Charles Rosher. The late 1920s produced camerawork that moved about like a soap bubble on the breath of imagination. The advent of sound tied it down to a neurotic adoration of the still shot that it did not begin to recover from for a quarter of a century.

But this picture features camerawork that is astonishing. The party sequence, is balletic; the prison sequences trap you in bars of darkness and Rosher backlights everyone with a star halo that still takes your breath away, even in the scratchy prints that survive. This is one every fan fan needs to watch: not for the story, which is awful, not for the performances, some of which are excellent, but for the pictures. Look at every single frame. You won't regret it.

Enjoyable historical drama in which The Great Profile plays a Russian peasant who rises to the rank of Lieutenant immediately before the revolution only to find himself shunned by his fellow officers and the haughty princess he falls for. Fine chemistry between Barrymore and the beautiful German actress Camilla Horn helps paper over most of the film's meagre flaws.

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that Barrymore was in his forties when he made this film. He looks fit and fantastic, the true matinée idol. This is due in no small part to Rosher's astounding photography. This is a crazy, obsessional soap that may turn some people off, but John B. has some beautiful, moving moments that give me goosebumps. He was clearly still able to give his all at this point, and he does so here. His tearful scenes are believable and so well done. Camilla Horn was stunning and looked great with him, but she's so wooden that it dulls the effect a bit. Still, she had a long career in Germany, so I guess she couldn't have been so bad. Ivan is one big grey area when it comes to morality, and Barrymore conveys that very well.

I wish he could have pulled it together long enough to save his career and life from the self-parodying buffoonery that he sank into as he dissipated. He breaks my heart on many different levels.

TEMPEST was the penultimate silent movie made by John Barrymore (ETERNAL LOVE directed by Ernst Lubitsch would be the last). The setting is not Shakespeare but takes place around the time of the Russian Revolution. The direction is credited to Sam Taylor who was best known for his comedies but a lot of it was shot by Lewis Milestone and visually it shows in many of the scene compositions and camera angles.

The film is primarily remembered today for Charles Rosher's cinematography, the sets by William Cameron Menzies, and as the Hollywood debut of German actress Camilla Horn (Murnau's FAUST). While not a great movie, it does have a lot to offer especially for silent movie and/or John Barrymore fans.

This version from Kino is part of a 4 DVD set of silent films by John Barrymore although it can be purchased separately (BELOVED ROGUE, DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE, SHERLOCK HOLMES make up the rest of the set). The picture quality is good and although it says it's from 35mm, a lot of it looks like 16mm to me. This print is courtesy of the Killiam Collection and contains some pro-Soviet bits that were later removed.

The piano score is by William Perry. Back in 2003, Film Preservation Associates released their DVD version through Image Entertainment. It is clearly from 35mm although a little scratchier and offers two separate soundtracks (the original Vitaphone discs and a piano score by Philip Carli) as well as a one reel home movie of Barrymore on his yacht. That's the one to own although this release comes in a close second...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

Unfortunately, this is not John Barrymore starring in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" - rather, "This is the storm-swept romance of a poor dragoon and a proud princess - of imperial Russia - in the last calm before the red tempest of terror. The year is 1914. The hour is midnight. The place is Volinsk - a garrison town near the Austrian border," as introduced in helpful title cards.

"'Tempest' was completed at the end of the silent era, and its release was delayed until it could be equipped with recorded musical accompaniment on Vitaphone discs. Seven of the discs have survived and are synchronized here; the gaps are filled by re-editing the available sound. A new digital stereo score performed by pianist Philip Carli is the primary soundtrack," according to the "Image Entertainment" DVD sleeve, "Our digital transfer is from a print made in the early 1950s from the camera negative."

Mr. Barrymore looks remarkable hale and hearty for an actor born in the early 1880s, showing off a still enviable physique in his shirtless scenes. He is often heavily made-up, and too obviously maneuvered into as many "Great Profile" photo opportunities as possible, but his performance as the upwardly mobile Russian peasant does not disappoint. Barrymore certainly delivers.

"Sam Taylor, who helmed some of Harold Lloyd's and Mary Pickford's most successful films, is the only credited director on 'Tempest'. However, in mid-production, Taylor replaced Russian-born Lewis Milestone, who in turn had taken over from Russian émigré director Victor Tourjansky," explains Image, "The original script by Erich von Stroheim was rewritten by Milestone and much modified by C. Gardner Sullivan, a reliable craftsman who received sole screen credit. Some original aspirations for authenticity survive in the contributions of several actual White Russian officers working as small-part players and technical advisers."

The film greatest strength is the outstanding work by the United Artists assembled technical crew. Titles by George Marion Jr., art direction by William Cameron Menzies, and photography by Charles Rosher were all praised at Hollywood's first annual "Academy Awards" banquet. Marion was mentioned for his work on Colleen Moore's "Oh Kay!" Mr. Menzies won for "Tempest and "The Dove". And, Mr. Rosher was mentioned for the winning "Sunrise", Ms. Pickford's "My Best Girl" and "Tempest".

Pretty princess Camilla Horn, who impressed in F.W. Murnau's "Faust" (1926), looks like she was producer (and then lover) Joseph M. Schenck's choice to take the Greta Garbo route to super-stardom. It doesn't work, herein, but neither is Ms. Horn a deterrent. Louis Wolheim and George Fawcett are marvelous as always. The Russian-born Boris de Fast makes an excellent impression as the gap-toothed socialist peddler. If the "Oscar" category for "Supporting Actor" had existed, Mr. Wolheim might have been noted, for some combination of acting effort; he appeared in no less than four films nominated during the eligibility year.

******* Tempest (5/17/28) Sam Taylor ~ John Barrymore, Camilla Horn, Louis Wolheim, Boris de Fast