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IMDb > Don Juan (1926)
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Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   293 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Walter Anthony (titles)
Lord Byron (poem)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Don Juan on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 February 1927 (USA) more
Tagline:
A Super Spectacle Depicting the Romantic Adventures of THE LORD OF ALL LOVERS! (original poster) more
Plot:
If there was one thing that Don Juan de Marana learned from his father Don Jose, it was that women gave you three things - life... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
Fine silent in it's ownright more (18 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Jane Winton ... Donna Isobel
John Roche ... Leandro
Warner Oland ... Cesare Borgia
Estelle Taylor ... Lucrezia Borgia
Montagu Love ... Count Giano Donati
Josef Swickard ... Duke Della Varnese
Willard Louis ... Pedrillo
Nigel De Brulier ... Marchese Rinaldo
Hedda Hopper ... Marchesia Rinaldo

Myrna Loy ... Mai, Lady in Waiting
Mary Astor ... Adriana della Varnese

John Barrymore ... Don Jose de Marana / Don Juan de Marana
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Additional Details

Runtime:
167 min | Spain:110 min | 112 min (TCM print)
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (musical score and sound effects) | Silent

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Although this was the first feature film with a Vitaphone soundtrack (therefore being the first film with a completely synchronized soundtrack), it is by no means the first sound film. The first sound film can be dated back to 1895, the process was re-discovered and improved by a French company (using a gramophone) in 1910. In 1913 Thomas A. Edison announced that all the problems of sound films were solved, and showed what he called, "the first sound film." As in the earlier efforts, 'Nursery Favorites' (1913) had a gramophone that appeared to synchronize with the film. There was one problem: the film was projected at the wrong speed, and the soundtrack was slowed down inadvertently. This problem happened all too often, and a frustrated Edison abandoned his process. In 1921, D.W. Griffith employed various experts to film a sound introduction for his film Dream Street (1921), which still exists, and went the performance went off without a hitch. Griffith soon stopped using sound because he thought it was financial suicide, stating "Only 5% of the world speaks English, so why should I lose 95% of my audience?" However by 1925 sound had arrived in the form of radio, and it was inevitable that film would follow. Movie studios tried various innovations to keep audiences coming (Technicolor, wide screen etc.) Warner Brothers, then a lesser film company, bought the old Brooklyn-based Vitagraph Studios and their all-important network of 34 film exchanges (the film distribution network vital to each studio) in 1925 and laid out plans to become a dominant force in the film industry. One of the 4 Warner Brothers, Sam, felt the future was in sound and convinced his skeptical older brother Harry (Warner's money man) to throw their lot in with Western Electric's 16" disc-based recording system, forming the Vitaphone Corp. on April 20, 1926 as 70% stockholders. Oddly, Sam never envisioned the system for voice synchronization, rather he saw it as an economical way to add the added dimension of musical accompaniment. The Vitaphone process solved the synchronization problem electro-mechanically, corresponding the projection speed with the recorded disc by utilizing the same motor for both devices. While cumbersome in both recording (editing was impossible) and play back (discs were fragile), Vitaphone represented the peak of technological innovation, albeit briefly. 'Don Juan', the first Warner Bros. feature to utilize the Vitaphone process, debuted in a gala premiere on August 6th 1926 and while it was a hit, it signaled a industry format war unrivaled until the 1980's Beta vs. VHS battle. Warner's 'The Jazz Singer' would become a monster hit 13 months later solidly proving the public's interest in sound. But there were several sound systems then in development and none were interchangeable and the major outfits like MGM and Paramount adopted a wait and see attitude that persisted well into 1929. The most practical, Fox's Movietone (sound on film) system eventually won out and Warner's abandoned recorded discs in 1930 but kept the Vitaphone trademark before the public into the 1940s. more
Movie Connections:
Edited into Okay for Sound (1946) more

FAQ

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful.
Fine silent in it's ownright, 5 April 2006
Author: zpzjones from East Coast, U.S.A.

There's been a lot written about Don Juan in film books about the beginning of pre-recorded sound. First off to respond to an earlier poster who wanted to know how the soundtrack was recorded. It was recorded by the New York Philharmonic w/100 piece orchestra in a non-soundproof theater in New York. This theater unfortunately was situated near an overland subway track and vibration from passing subway trains just could not be tolerated. So the recording was done in the middle of the night when no trains were running. It was that simple.

It's amazing that this film not only survives intact but with it's actual pre-recorded scored track, the way 1926 audiences saw & heard it. No new score or modern re-recording of the original. This track is sort of an original sound film heirloom and we're lucky to have it today for posterity's sake. This is the way silent films should be seen music wise anyway. This was the original intention of pre-recorded sound to present to audiences, full orchestral music where they weren't able to listen to it. If you can forgive the primitive process of Vitaphone and appreciate the marvelous sync score for what it is, you can enjoy this sumptuous picture immensely. The 100 piece orchestra really makes it's presence felt. I'm sure the actual score could be re-recorded with modern technology and would be beautiful.

John Barrymore follows in the swashbuckling tradition of his then film contemporaries, Douglas Fairbanks & Rudolph Valentino. It's a great legendary figure for the Great Profile to play, and he and the cast seem to have the time of their lives acting through their scenes. Without giving spoiler away, I think the man sealed in the wall is one of the best scenes in the pic.

A curious thing about Don Juan's production. Warner Brothers then a fledgling newbie studio had just signed Barrymore to a three picture deal and wanted to get Don Juan into production as soon as possible after their winning success with Barrymore in Beau Brummel(1924). However Barrymore, who had some serious clout at the time, wanted to film what would become a bastardized though picturesque version of Moby Dick called The Sea Beast(1926). Thus Don Juan's production schedule got pushed back in order for the Sea Beast to come first. Fortunately for sound film history & Don Juan, this gave the four Warner Brothers time enough to experiment and increase their interest in Vitaphone. The idea then came up to release one of the new feature pictures with an orchestral score in the new Vitaphone process. Don Juan happened to be completed and ready for release in mid-1926 and it was chosen for Vitaphone. One tends to wonder if Sea Beast had been made after Don Juan, that it would have been the one chosen for Vitaphone and we might be listening to a totally different score. It really came down to what film was being released at the time the decision was made to go with Vitaphone.

Alan Crosland proved a very intuitive & inventive director and formed a great professional working relationship with the irrascible Barrymore. Under Crosland's direction Don Juan moves swiftly and is cut, photographed & edited to form a wonderful finished product. Director & Star made three or four long films together and Don Juan is Crosland's prelude to his better remembered though inferior Jazz Singer(1927). Don Juan is quite possibly Crosland's silent masterpiece IMHO.

The only inconsistency in the film is that Pedrillo, Don Juan's trusted assistant, disappears halfway through the film with no explanation. This because actor Willard Louis, who played Pedrillo, dropped dead before the production was finished. But enough of his scenes were completed to include him in the first half of the movie with continuity and without a stand in.

It was great of Turner to release this movie on video in the early 90s but with the recent release of Greed(1923) on DVD, it would be nice if a DVD of Don Juan could be fixed up with some bonus material explaining the making of as well as the historical significance of the movie. Such a film as this deserves that

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