The Spanish Dancer (1923)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Herbert Brenon

Writers:

Beulah Marie Dix (adaptation)
Philippe Dumanoir (play)

Release Date:

7 October 1923 (USA)

Genre:

History | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Historical | Based On Novel

Cast

Pola Negri	...	Gypsy fortune teller
Antonio Moreno	...	Don Cesar de Bazan
Wallace Beery	...	King Philip IV
Kathlyn Williams	...	Queen Isabel of Bourbon
Gareth Hughes	...	Lazarillo
Adolphe Menjou	...	Don Salluste
Edward Kipling	...	Marquis de Rotundo
Anne Shirley	...	Don Balthazar Carlos (as Dawn O'Day)
Charles A. Stevenson	...	Cardinal's Ambassador
Robert Agnew	...	Juan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Buck Black
Frank Coghlan Jr.
George J. Lewis

Runtime:

56 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation

Trivia:

Pola Negri's role (Maritana) was originally written for Rudolph Valentino.

Movie Connections:

Version of Ruy Blas (1972) (TV)

How Dare You, Dear Pola?!

"The Spanish Dancer" is a big-budget production, one of those which Herr Herbert Brenon, the film director, was so fond of; a strange epic costume film starring Damen Pola Negri that depicts the story of Maritana, a gypsy girl who dances in selected courtyards and even tells people's fortunes; but those are trifles, small business for the gypsy and fortuneteller girl; she deeply in her heart wants to be a…. Countess!!! ( How dare you, dear Pola?!... ).

So this gypsy social climber finally gets what she wants because the handsome Count Don Cesar de Bazán ( Herr Antonio Moreno ) falls in love and marries her ( that's how she gets her title of nobility ), but that's not enough for her, and she even gets involved in some strange plot with the -- King of Spain!.... ( Herr Wallace Beery wearing an impossible wig ), putting on the verge the stability and the Foreign Ministries of Spain and France ( this country represented in the film by the King's wife, Queen Isabel Of Bourbon -- don't mistake that rigid Queen with an ordinary American liquor ) …. MEIN GOTT!!!.... that girl doesn't know or care about any limits to her gypsy ambition!.

In spite of this film being full of stereotypes about Spanish types and bizarre customs of that country ( thank Gott there is not a bullfight and even better, no matador can be seen in this film! ), it's an entertaining film; and although "The Spanish Dancer" is a film that didn't survive till today in its entirety, thanks to the sceneries and the funny plot full of aristocratic jealousies and intrigues at Philip IV of Spain's court, the audience will enjoy this kind of Spanish-adventure silent film.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must keep order over this chaotic Spanish court.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/