This sweeping, humourous, action-filled account of the famous lover is no classic, but it never slows down long enough to be boring. From Venice he travels to Russia, where he becomes involved with Catherine the Great, returning to Venice for a rousing finale. Better than average acting - although the characters are mostly fairly thin - and a wonderful visual style, with one long scene filmed in colour. If you aren't a fan of the silent era, this isn't for you, but if you're interested in cinema pre-sound, it's worth a look, especially in the immaculately restored version.
7 Reviews
"I have loved women to madness but I have always loved liberty more."
brogmiller8 October 2021
Providing one can overlook its biographical inaccuracies this is a gloriously entertaining piece.
As the title character Ivan Mozzukhin is wonderfully seedy and combines a lightness of touch with the look of a sexual predator who encounters precious little resistance. This great actor's sense of comedy is very much to the fore in the scene where he gives a manicure to crackpot Czar Peter 111 played by the excellent Rudolf Kleine-Rogge. The eagle-eyed might spot an uncredited young Michel Simon as a buffoonish soldier.
Venice of course loomed large in Casanova's life and the images of that city, especially during carnival time, are simply stunning. The art direction is superlative and as a bonus, rather than the curse of a totally incongruous 'specially composed' score that blights so many silent film restorations, we have one by maestro Georges Delerue which suits the material admirably.
Mozzukhin and director Alexandr Volkoff were a formidable team and this is arguably their finest achievement.
As the title character Ivan Mozzukhin is wonderfully seedy and combines a lightness of touch with the look of a sexual predator who encounters precious little resistance. This great actor's sense of comedy is very much to the fore in the scene where he gives a manicure to crackpot Czar Peter 111 played by the excellent Rudolf Kleine-Rogge. The eagle-eyed might spot an uncredited young Michel Simon as a buffoonish soldier.
Venice of course loomed large in Casanova's life and the images of that city, especially during carnival time, are simply stunning. The art direction is superlative and as a bonus, rather than the curse of a totally incongruous 'specially composed' score that blights so many silent film restorations, we have one by maestro Georges Delerue which suits the material admirably.
Mozzukhin and director Alexandr Volkoff were a formidable team and this is arguably their finest achievement.
Light and airy as a champagne bubble
Rosabel27 August 2005
'Casanova' shows Mosjoukine at his most light-hearted - like the great artist he was, he makes everything seem easy. This movie is episodic in structure, almost like a collection of short stories. Casanova bounces from one adventure to another, going from Venice to Austria to Russia and finally back to Venice again, and always in the service of women, as he puts it in a letter to a man he's good-naturedly robbed. In the end, all his romancing catches up with him, and he's forced to choose between two women - the scene where they both confront him reminds me a little of Moliere's Dom Juan, though Mosjoukine's Casanova is far more innocent. He delights in tricking and robbing men, especially the pompous and undeserving, but the moment he realizes that he has hurt a woman, his heart is crushed, and he surrenders to his enemies. Mosjoukine always demonstrates great sensitivity to women and I think this is at the root of his only unconvincing moment in the film. When he meets a young girl who is disguised as a boy, he's just too aware of her as a woman to be able to play the role of someone who's fooled into thinking that he's dealing with another man. But apart from this, Mosjoukine's performance is flawless. Rudolf Klein-Rogge, as the half-mad Czar Peter, is also brilliantly funny, marching around barking orders for his soldiers to recover from typhoid, and complaining that the business of state keeps distracting him from his fat, plain mistress. He also accomplishes the rare feat of upstaging Mosjoukine in their one scene together, when Casanova gives the Czar a manicure, and where they play off each other like a seasoned comedy team. Their by-play is so natural, and almost under the radar (the scene is mostly filmed in a kind of medium long shot, not at all focusing on them), it makes me think that they might have been ad-libbing. Klein-Rogge is obviously very comfortable playing comedy, and it would have been nice to see him do more in this vein. The music by Georges Delerue for the restoration of 'Casanova' is perfectly suited to the light-hearted freedom of the piece, and makes the whole experience a joy.
rare silent adventure, beautifully restored
mjneu599 November 2010
The legendary libertine comes to life in this mammoth, late silent French production, resurrected by the Cinemathéque François and restored to its original brilliance, complete with hand tinted costumes and fireworks in the climactic festival scenes. The panoramic location photography and lavish re-creation of decadent 18th century Venice make the film a visually spectacular, picaresque epic, following the title character through various chases, rescues, romantic liaisons, and hairbreadth escapes, spanning the continent from Italy to Russia and back again. With his athletic build and hypnotic gaze (the better to make women swoon) the celebrated lover is made to resemble, at least physically, an odd cross between Buster Keaton and Bela Lugosi's Dracula, but by the end of the film he is transformed from an indulgent ne'er-do-well into a charming and, at times, heroic scoundrel. Variations of the same story have been told many times since, but never with such energy or style.
A sumptuous comic epic of the old school
MissSimonetta29 December 2022
Ivan Mosjoukine is an odd specimen of early movie stardom. He can be handsome or grotesque, quirky or intense. Another reviewer described him as a combination of Buster Keaton and Bela Lugosi, and it's hard to come up with a better descriptor. Regardless, he was a major talent of the 1920s and his films are always worth seeking out.
CASANOVA might not be the most high brow of his oeuvre. It's a spectacle first and foremost, tossing its ne'er do-well hero from one amorous escapade to the next. Clocking at almost three hours, one might be tempted to think this souffle of a film overstays its welcome, but the action keeps moving so quickly and the visuals are so sumptuous that the time flies. Mosjoukine acquits himself well as the mischievous lady killer, coming off as both opportunistic and weirdly guileless in the elegant but dangerous world of 18th century Europe.
Flicker Alley recently put this one out on blu-ray and DVD, so if you're a silent film buff, I would definitely grab a copy while you can!
CASANOVA might not be the most high brow of his oeuvre. It's a spectacle first and foremost, tossing its ne'er do-well hero from one amorous escapade to the next. Clocking at almost three hours, one might be tempted to think this souffle of a film overstays its welcome, but the action keeps moving so quickly and the visuals are so sumptuous that the time flies. Mosjoukine acquits himself well as the mischievous lady killer, coming off as both opportunistic and weirdly guileless in the elegant but dangerous world of 18th century Europe.
Flicker Alley recently put this one out on blu-ray and DVD, so if you're a silent film buff, I would definitely grab a copy while you can!
Casanova cosa perdida
Horst_In_Translation17 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Casanova" or "The Prince of Adventurers" or "The Loves of Casanova" is a French/German co-production from 1927, so this one is from between the two great wars of the 20th century and it has its 90th anniversary this year. With this age, it is a black-and-white silent film of course. The original is in French, but as always with the more known foreign-language silent films, it is not too difficult to find a copy with English intertitles. It is a pretty long movie, easily makes it past the 2-hour-mark. It was directed by Alexandre Volkoff and he is also one of the writers working on this one. His co-writer is the Russian-born Ivan Mozzhukhin and he also plays the title character. Casanova is still a character today that most people have heard of and the only thing he is really known for is what a master of seduction he was. So it is not really a surprise that most of the supporting cast here are women. Occasionally, the film also tries to focus on other aspects of his life, but I don't think it was really successful from that perspective, about everything other than the romance aspect.
Also I am not sure how historically significant Casanova was and if he deserves to be in the center of a biopic. Anyway, I guess there is a reason why he is not really part of modern movies these days as I cannot remember having heard of or read about a new Casanova movie or one in recent decades. I guess taking that into account, I don't think they did too much of a bad job here. But I am also not really certain how much of what we know about Casanova's life is really accurate in the sense of that it happened that way. I am pretty sure a lot has faded throughout the centuries. I also believe that the subject of the film would have turned out more interesting I guess with sound and color, but also with a more open mind about sexuality that certainly did not exist in the 1920s yet, especially not when it comes to film. So yeah, perhaps the plot and main character weren't ready yet for a movie adaptation. The consequence is that most of the characters aren't too interesting and that the film drags on more than just a few occasions. The lead actor also was not good enough to carry the film on his shoulders. Overall, the weak is more frequent than the strong. I give this film a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
Also I am not sure how historically significant Casanova was and if he deserves to be in the center of a biopic. Anyway, I guess there is a reason why he is not really part of modern movies these days as I cannot remember having heard of or read about a new Casanova movie or one in recent decades. I guess taking that into account, I don't think they did too much of a bad job here. But I am also not really certain how much of what we know about Casanova's life is really accurate in the sense of that it happened that way. I am pretty sure a lot has faded throughout the centuries. I also believe that the subject of the film would have turned out more interesting I guess with sound and color, but also with a more open mind about sexuality that certainly did not exist in the 1920s yet, especially not when it comes to film. So yeah, perhaps the plot and main character weren't ready yet for a movie adaptation. The consequence is that most of the characters aren't too interesting and that the film drags on more than just a few occasions. The lead actor also was not good enough to carry the film on his shoulders. Overall, the weak is more frequent than the strong. I give this film a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
An absolute romp! Really fun - but - it's long, so beware...
mmipyle7 October 2022
"Casanova" (1927) is absolutely from start to finish a complete romp and a hoot. Starring Ivan Mosshukhin in the titular rôle, along with a huge cast of ladies, including Suzanne Bianchetti, Diana Karenne, Jenny Jugo, Rina De Liguoro, and many others, plus great extra character actors such as Rudolf Klein-Rogge, this is the supposed biography (read "fantasy") of the 18th century rake Giacomo Casanova. Some will find Mosshukhin's rendition somewhat too old for the actor, or his gaze a little perturbing, but overall he acquits himself very well. The star, even the story, are all secondary to the immense sets, the gorgeous scenery, the pomp, the circumstance, some of which is the finest I've ever seen in any film, silent or sound! The scene where Queen Catherine of Russia is led into her hall at a ball for her inauguration as Czaress, and those with her behind are carrying her robe train is incredible!! Her train must be thirty or thirty five feet long, and it's wide, a huge and heavy train. It's a marvelous and beautifully filmed episode.
This is the fairly recently restored version, now available through Flicker Alley. The IMDb says the film is 132 minutes long. This version is 159 minutes, and I guarantee that it seems it. Not to quibble, but I had to divide my viewing over two nights.
Certainly recommended for those who wish to be enthralled in a silent film that has so much to offer. It's light-heartedness completely charms, though the length sometimes makes one wonder if it will ever end. Go for it!
This is the fairly recently restored version, now available through Flicker Alley. The IMDb says the film is 132 minutes long. This version is 159 minutes, and I guarantee that it seems it. Not to quibble, but I had to divide my viewing over two nights.
Certainly recommended for those who wish to be enthralled in a silent film that has so much to offer. It's light-heartedness completely charms, though the length sometimes makes one wonder if it will ever end. Go for it!
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