Mare Nostrum (1926)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Rex Ingram

Writers:

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (novel)
Willis Goldbeck (scenario)

Release Date:

15 February 1926 (USA)

Genre:

War

Plot:

The story of a female German spy who willingly sacrifices her life for her country.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Mediterranean Sea | Mediterranean | WWI | Based On Novel

Cast

Apollon Uni	...	The Triton
Álex Nova	...	Don Esteban Ferragut
Kada-Abd-el-Kader	...	Young Ulysses, Don Esteban's Son
Hughie Mack	...	Caragol
Alice Terry	...	Freya Talberg
Antonio Moreno	...	Ulysses Ferragut
Mademoiselle Kithnou	...	Dona Cinta - Ulysses' Wife (as Kithnou)
Mickey Brantford	...	Esteban, Ulysses' Son
Rosita Ramírez	...	Pepita, Ulysses' Niece
Frédéric Mariotti	...	Toni, the Mate
Pâquerette	...	Doctor Fedelmann (as Mme. Paquerette)
Fernand Mailly	...	Count Kaledine
Andrews Engelmann	...	Submarine Commander (as André von Engelman)

Also Known As:

Our Sea (USA)

Runtime:

102 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Following political pressure from the UK, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer withdrew this film from British territories following it's initial theatrical run.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime: The Ambassador's Boots (#1.6)" (1983)

MARE NOSTRUM (Rex Ingram, 1926) ***

This is a lavishly produced wartime romance and, as is typical of Ingram, quite stylishly handled (benefiting also from the fact that it was filmed in Europe, the director himself being based in France). The plot places its old-fashioned impossible and, inevitably, tragic love story against the backdrop of a nostalgic view of the sea and the simple fisher-folk who live and die in it, the bourgeoisie with their stuck-up attitude and high ideals and, naturally, an impending world-war situation; for all that, it's most interesting when dealing with the various espionage elements and especially the two submarine attacks (which must have been a novelty at the time) led by a bald-headed and aristocratic German officer, obviously inspired by Erich von Stroheim!

Still, Alice Terry's poignant performance as the female spy (who has mixed emotions about her mission and who happens to be the spitting image of Amphitrite, the Sea Goddess who protects fishermen) is the core of the film; this was perhaps the best role she ever had (directed, naturally, by her husband). Antonio Moreno is less impressive as the male lead, though his disheveled appearance when forced to work for the enemy and following his son's death (for which he is partly to blame) is appropriately world-weary. The beautiful and poetic finale, then, sees the drowning Moreno (after his ship was torpedoed by the sub he helped fuel!) being picked up by Amphitrite herself. Reportedly, this was Ingram's favorite among his own films - as well as Terry herself and Moreno, too!