The Spanish Dancer (1923)

A love story between Don Cesar de Bazan and a beautiful Gypsy dancer.

Director:

Herbert Brenon

Writers:

Beulah Marie Dix (adaptation), Philippe Dumanoir (play) (as Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir)

Stars:

Pola Negri, Antonio Moreno, Wallace Beery

Cast

Cast overview:
Pola Negri	...	Maritana - 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
Henry Vogel	...	Olivares
Robert Agnew	...	Juan

Storyline

A love story between Don Cesar de Bazan and a beautiful Gypsy dancer.

---

Plot Keywords:

based on novel | 

---

Taglines:

For the first time since coming to America, Negri is the Pola of "Passion." But never has the flashing jewel appeared in such a magnificent setting. It cost a million to make it and it's one picture in a thousand. (Print Ad- Pullman Herald, ((Pullman, Wash.)) 25 January 1924)

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Romance

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

---

Alternate Versions

The 58 minute version of this film, released by Grapevine Video, is the longest and most complete version of the film available commercially (as of 2010).

---

Connections

Version of Ruy Blas (1948)

User Reviews

Skip the Storm

"The Spanish Dancer" has the script of an utterly commonplace, even hackneyed, melodramatic movie. In the hands of director Herbert Brenon, it turns into a work of visual fantasy that is impossible to resist.

Mind you, it needs to be seen in the right conditions. Looking at it by yourself on a television screen, it doesn't look like much. Happily, I was able to see it under the right conditions: at the Museum of Modern Art with Donald Sosin at the piano and his wife at the tambourine, during the week of a storm that had shut down half the city and left people shivering in the cold and dark, needing to be taken out of themselves.

The casting is well nigh perfect. The cinematography by James Wong Howe is perfect, not just the story telling aspect of it, but the set-piece at the center of the movie shot during Carnival in Barcelona. The shots are framed by medieval architecture and filled with light, thanks to the confetti that fills the screen.

My movie reviews usually talk about the story and there is one, but that's not the reason to see this movie. This is one of those movies that you must seem even though you may find it tough going until its beauty kicks in. I only hope that when you see it, it's in a comfortable theater with a great score. I also hope you don't have a disaster going on outside the theater.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

1924 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Die spanische Tänzerin

Box Office

Gross USA:

$314,765

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

56 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1