The Lady with the Camellias (1907)

Armand and Marguerite meet first in her home, where she is giving a party for the easy-living Paris ladies and gentlemen. Armand at once falls in love with her, and as Marguerite is taken ... See full summary »

Director:

Viggo Larsen

Writer:

Alexandre Dumas fils (novel)

Stars:

Carl Alstrup, Oda Alstrup, Viggo Larsen

Cast

Credited cast:
Carl Alstrup
Oda Alstrup	...	Marguerite Gauthier, 'Kameliadamen'
Viggo Larsen	...	Armand Duval
Gustav Lund	...	Armand Duvals fader
Inger Melchior
Lauritz Olsen	...	En kavaler
Robert Storm Petersen	...	Gustave
Helga Tønnesen

Storyline

Armand and Marguerite meet first in her home, where she is giving a party for the easy-living Paris ladies and gentlemen. Armand at once falls in love with her, and as Marguerite is taken ill during the dancing, he is the only one who is taking care of her. In the second act the two have grown more familiar, although Marguerite has not quite given up her old acquaintances. One day, for instance, Armand has to leave her for the sake of a count, who has invited her for a drive. From the street Armand has watched the count's visit, and in a fit of passionate jealousy, he writes a letter to Marguerite, saying: "I have seen the count enter your place. You must choose between him and me." Marguerite's friend gives her the letter. One minute later the agreement is made, and the count drives off alone. The lovers now go into the country to live in an unpretending villa, where they are enjoying their happiness as a young married couple. Armand's money does not suffice, and quite secretly ...

---

Plot Keywords:

based on novel | 

---

Genres:

Short | Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

Denmark

Release Date:

September 1908 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Lady with the Camellias

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nordisk Film Kompagni

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of Xin cha hua nu (1941)

User Reviews

12-minute 'Camille'.

I saw this fascinating drama in October 2006 at the Cinema Muto festival in Sacile, Italy. 'Kameliadamen' translates as 'Camellia Lady': this is the same story which would later become Garbo's classic 'Camille', and which also became the opera 'La Traviata'.

'Kameliadamen' is quite faithful to its well-known source novel, so I see no need to synopsise it here. What intrigued me about this very early silent film is that it managed to compress the novel's entire plot into such a brief movie: we have here about ten minutes of actors' footage, plus two minutes of Danish intertitles, for a total running time of 12 minutes! I was further intrigued by this film's tableau structure. The action of the novel is here divided into five scenes, each of which is recorded in a single camera set-up as if it were a stage play. The only editing within any of these scenes is the insertion of intertitles. Unfortunately, due to the film's extreme brevity, rather a large amount of intertitling is necessary to explain what's going on: about 15% of this film's running time is devoted to intertitles. Since the original story is so well known, I regret that director Viggo Larsen and his uncredited scenarist (probably also Larsen) didn't trust us to follow the plot line with less titling.

By the way, I've seen several dramatisations of Dumas Jnr's novel, and ALL of them -- including 'Kameliadamen' -- leave out my single favourite detail from the original novel. They usually mention that the courtesan Marguerite Gauthier earned her nickname due to her fondness for wearing a camellia. What they don't mention is one especially intimate detail from Dumas Jnr's text: namely, that Marguerite always wears a white camellia, except for three consecutive days each month when she sports a red one! Aye, that means exactly what it suggests.

I'll rate 'Kameliadamen' 9 points out of 10. I'm deeply intrigued that, as early as 1907, director Viggo Larsen and his creative team had such a firm hand over the narrative techniques of cinema.