Bardelys the Magnificent
About Bardelys the Magnificent
Under Louis XIII, Comte Châtellerault, refused by Roxalanne de Lavedan, bets his estate against that of the Marquis de Bardelys that Bardelys cannot marry her within three months. The king forbids the match with a rebel family. Bardelys goes anyway, takes the papers of a dying traitor named Lesperon, and is hunted under that name. Wounded, he hides at the Lavedan house. Roxalanne nurses him and they fall in love, until she learns that "Lesperon" was engaged and denounces him. Châtellerault, sitting as judge, will not admit who the prisoner is and condemns him. Roxalanne marries the comte for a pardon that is a lie. On the gallows Bardelys delays until the king arrives. He gives up the bet so he can propose cleanly, fights Châtellerault, and watches the comte kill himself when soldiers come to arrest him.
Cast & crew
More about Bardelys the Magnificent
King Vidor directed John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman, then Vidor's wife. Dorothy Farnum wrote the screenplay from Rafael Sabatini's novel, with titles by Marian Ainslee. James Basevi designed the sets.
Themes
Making
For years the picture was counted lost, apart from the trailer and a short extract Vidor cut into Show People (1928). The 2006 Paris print had been assembled from a B-camera negative.
Look
William H. Daniels shot it. In the boat passage, willow branches drift across the lens while Bardelys and Roxalanne are on the water.
Music
William Axt composed the score sent out with the 1926 prints. The 2009 Flicker Alley DVD adds a Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra score and a piano track by Antonia Coppola.
Preservation
Treated as lost after MGM destroyed its materials in 1936. An incomplete French print, missing reel 3, was recovered in 2006 and reconstructed by Lobster Films in 2008. The restored version runs about 85 minutes.
Notes
- John Wayne, then 19, plays an uncredited guard. The film is described as his second.
- Arthur Lubin plays Louis XIII. Edward Connelly plays Cardinal Richelieu. Roy D'Arcy is Châtellerault.
- A nearly complete French export print, missing reel 3, was found in 2006. Lobster Films reconstructed it in 2008 with trailer shots and stills, and English titles taken from MGM paper records.
- Flicker Alley issued it in July 2009 on the DVD set The Lost Films of John Gilbert, paired with the 1922 Monte Cristo.
- The Berlinale showed it in February 2020 in a King Vidor retrospective.
Scenes
- Châtellerault bets his estate that Bardelys cannot win Roxalanne in three months.
- Bardelys takes the dying Lesperon's papers and is hunted as a traitor.
- He stalls on the gallows until the king rides in.
- Châtellerault kills himself when soldiers arrive to arrest him.
Influenced by
- Rafael Sabatini's novel Bardelys the Magnificent
Also available
- Flicker Alley DVD, The Lost Films of John Gilbert (2009)
