Camille

1921 DramaRomance 70 minutes Directed by Ray C. Smallwood

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About Camille

In 1920s Paris, law student Armand Duval sees the courtesan Marguerite Gautier at the opera and falls in love with her. She turns him away, then lives with him. His father tells her to end it to protect the family. She goes back to a rich client. Armand takes up with the courtesan Olympe and insults Marguerite in a casino. She leaves the life, runs into debt, and dies of tuberculosis in her apartment, holding the copy of Manon Lescaut he gave her. They do not meet again. His father later gives him a letter that says she loved him.

Cast & crew

More about Camille

Ray C. Smallwood directed. June Mathis wrote the scenario from Alexandre Dumas fils's novel and play La Dame aux Camélias. Alla Nazimova produced and plays Marguerite. Rudolph J. Bergquist photographed it. Natacha Rambova designed the Art Deco sets. Nazimova Productions made the film for Metro Pictures, which released it on September 26, 1921. The contemporary edit runs 70 minutes.

Themes

  • A courtesan and a law student
  • A father who breaks the affair
  • Death from tuberculosis
  • A letter read too late
  • Marguerite Gautier
  • Armand Duval
  • courtesan
  • tuberculosis
  • Art Deco
  • opera
  • Manon Lescaut
  • 1920s Paris

Making

Nazimova starred and produced. Rambova's sets put Dumas's courtesan story into an Art Deco Paris.

Look

Rudolph J. Bergquist photographed Nazimova and Valentino against Natacha Rambova's Art Deco rooms.

Preservation

The film survives. A 70-minute edit is the version usually shown.

Notes

  • Rudolph Valentino plays Armand. He later married the art director, Natacha Rambova.
  • The story is moved from the 1840s of the novel to the 1920s.
  • Rex Cherryman plays Gaston, Arthur Hoyt plays Count de Varville, Patsy Ruth Miller plays Nichette, and William Orlamond plays Armand's father.
  • Unlike the novel, Armand is not at Marguerite's death. He learns the truth from a letter.
  • The film has been included as a bonus on DVD editions of the 1936 Camille with Greta Garbo.

Scenes

  • Armand first sees Marguerite at the opera.
  • He denounces her at the casino after she has left him.
  • She dies holding Manon Lescaut while her things are being taken for debt.

Influenced by

  • La Dame aux Camélias (novel, 1848)
  • La Dame aux Camélias (play, 1852)

Also available

  • Internet Archive (Camille1921)