Scaramouche (1923)

Originally posted to Facebook on 7/7/2017

Scaramouche was our first film from 1923, and it was superficially similar to Robin Hood in that it was a big budget Hollywood costume drama. However, whereas Robin Hood was primarily an adventure film and a Fairbanks vehicle, Scaramouche seems a little more interested in its story and setting. It takes place just prior to and during the French Revolution, and has brief appearances by actors portraying Danton and Napoleon. The title character, played by Ramon Novarro, is just back from college, and, within the first several minutes of the film, is involved in a conflict with a nobleman (played by Lewis Stone), who kills one of Novarro’s friends in a duel, and also emerges as his main romantic rival to the female lead, played by Alice Terry. Lewis Stone went on to star as Judge Hardy in more than a dozen Andy Hardy films with Mickey Rooney in the sound era, while Ramon Novarro, although best known for his leading roles during the twenties, continued acting up until his murder in the late sixties, including on such television shows as Dr. Kildare and Bonanza. (He was murdered, by the way, by two men who robbed him by posing as male prostitutes. I did not share this fun fact with the kids.)

The movie itself is certainly melodramatic, and perhaps derivative of A Tale of Two Cities and other similarly themed stories, but it does proceed with a certain seriousness of intent, and with some interest in the ambiguities of the French Revolution. One interesting device that it employs, and which I’ve seen in other films of this period as well, is to occasionally show a written letter, initially appearing to the viewer in French, but then fading into an English equivalent. This is a decent solution to maintaining the verisimilitude of the setting while still allowing the audience to understand the contents of the writing -- and it appears that it was something of a convention at the time. I think in the end it is too disruptive to the audience’s suspension of disbelief, and probably faded from use for that reason, but it’s interesting to see it as a transitory device.

Next week we see our second film from 1923: Safety Last. This is our first feature starring Harold Lloyd -- excepting 1928’s Speedy, which was not technically part of this project. It is also the source of the iconic image of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock face, and, after Caligari, is the second feature in this project that I’d previously seen in its entirety. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT