Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Spanish Dancer (1923)

This Paramount historical drama, directed by Herbert Brenon, stars Pola Negri and Antonio Moreno, with Wallace Beery, Kathlyn Williams, Gareth Hughes and Adolphe Menjou.

Based on a 19th century play set in the 17th century, The Spanish Dancer is part love story and part political intrigue with a spare sprinkling of royal sexual infidelity. Gypsy dancer and fortune teller Maritana (Negri) and profligate Don César de Bazan (Moreno) fall in love at first sight at a party thrown for his (supposed) friends. The very next morning, due to his reckless mounting debt, Bazan is stripped of his property by creditors.

Political tensions between Spain and France press the need for a formal treaty between the countries. Spanish King Philip IV (Beery) is on the fence as to his acceptance of the treaty and his French-born Queen Isobel (Williams) is in legion with Cardinal Richelieu (Charles Stevenson) to get the treaty signed. Political opportunists Don Salluste (Menjou) and Olivarez (Henry Vogel) are plotting to subvert the treaty while destroying the Spanish monarchy. Hisses are appropriate here.

Bazan has avoided capture and meets with Maritana and young apprentice Lazarillo (Hughes) during a huge festival in Madrid, where they are all chased (for different reasons) by separate pursuers. Bazan comes to the aid of Maritana and Lazarillo only to end up in jail for killing a man on festival day.

Maritana had previously earned a debt of gratitude from Queen Isobel and now seeks to collect on a favor to free Bazan and Lazarillo. Meanwhile, under the influence of Don Salluste, King Philip intends to have Maritana as a mistress and conspires to raise her to the title of countess while ensuring the death of Bazan. More hisses here.

Gathering surrepticiously one evening at the king’s hunting lodge (read: big-ass country castle), the whole gang of King Philip, Queen Isobel, Richelieu, Maritana, Bazan and Salluste sort out misunderstandings through a little white lie and the exposure of the treacherous plot. Hurrahs here.

As would be expected, Negri and Moreno stand out in a very-capable cast of Paramount players. Beery is smarmy and almost comic in his anachronistic wig sitting above his dockworker mug. Coniving villain Menjou is somehow as charming as ever. Brenon’s direction is undistinguished but passable. The cinematography by 24-year-old James Wong Howe is at times stunning. The costume design by Howard Greer is spectacular and noteworthy. That said, Moreno’s sword duel with the captain of the guard at the Madrid festival presents a bewildering editorial choice as the end of the swordplay is shown in long shot rather in a closer shot. The long shot requires the audience to visually pick out Moreno and his opponent from the hundreds of swarming extras that ring their duel to understand that the captain has ultimately been killed.

That this film is a major studio production is evident in the expansive sets (constructed on the Goldwyn Culver City lot), the impressive rock-solid glass process shots, and the use of 2500 costumed extras for the Madrid festival sequence. Viewing this footage, one might think they have dimensionally slipped into another theater to watch a Cecil B. DeMille production.

It should be noted that the play on which the film was based was also simultaneously produced in a competing version, Ernst Lubitsch’s Rosita (1923) starring Mary Pickford, distributed in general release only days before this version. The irony is that Negri and her favorite director were working on the same source material in separate productions.

For years, The Spanish Dancer was only available for viewing in incomplete prints. In 2012, Eye Film Instituut Nederland completed a digital restoration of the film that utilized four incomplete prints: a 35mm color-tinted Dutch-language version held by EYE, a 35mm Russian-language version presumably held by the Cinémathèque Royale in Belgium, a 16mm English-language version held by Photoplay Productions, and a 16mm print held by FPA France (Lobster Films collection). Some of the source material was in active decomposition. Following a copy of the original shooting contunity, EYE reconstructed the film to approximately 95 percent of its original release length.

— Carl Bennett

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from the 2012 digital restoration by the Eye Film Instituut Nederland that utilized four incomplete archival 35mm and 16mm prints. Eye notes that approximately 95 percent of the footage has been restored in this version. The HD image has been partially digitally stabilized and greyscale-balanced but the flaws that were present in the source materials (dust, speckling, fine scratches, scrapes, chips, schmutz, sprocket damage, mild flickering from exposure fluctations, mild print decomposition [that is substantial in the Queen’s fête sequence], mild print warps, and some static discharges present in the negative of the source print) have been allowed to remain. Brief sections of missing footage causes the image to jump about a bit in a few cases and pronounced film grain is only partially digitally averaged. Differences in the visual quality of the source materials are not greatly distracting but footage from the 16mm reduction prints the can be easily recognized. Overall, the viewing experience is very-good.

The film is accompanied by a lively (sometimes expansively manic) and quite entertaining music score composed and performed by Bill Ware with a number of musicians. The at-times jazzy music is worthy of standalone listening.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary by author Scott Eyman with dance historican Naima Prevots, an interview with composer Bill Ware (22 minutes), and a brief restoration comparison (2 minutes).

While we wish that some digital clean-up of the image had been done, this is certainly the best home video edition of the film available.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

The film accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Richardson Price.

This is likely to be an acceptable home video edition.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from REELCLASSIC DVD through . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a music score compiled from preexisting recordings

Not at all recommended.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.