Eternal Love
About Eternal Love
In 1806 in Pontresina, after the French leave, mountain man Marcus Baltran and Ciglia plan to marry. At the liberation dance she is frightened of him drunk, and that night he sleeps with Pia, who has been refused before. Pia and her mother force a marriage. Ciglia marries Lorenz Gruber. Lorenz later ambushes Marcus in the mountains, is shot, and dies accusing him. A mob drives Marcus and Ciglia into the snow, and they walk into an avalanche together.
Cast & crew
More about Eternal Love
Ernst Lubitsch directed. Hanns Kräly wrote it from Jakob Christoph Heer's novel Der König der Bernina. United Artists released it. It was the last silent film for both Lubitsch and Barrymore. There is no dialogue. A synchronized score and effects went out on disc and on film. Alpine scenes were shot at Lake Louise. The story was filmed again in Austria in 1957 as The King of Bernina.
Themes
Background
The story is set in 1806, just after a French occupation of the Swiss valley ends.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall in The New York Times called the acting capable and the Alpine shots realistic, including the avalanche, and wrote that the story was not especially moving, partly because the script was thin. He found Barrymore excellent and too melodramatic, and Horn sympathetic.
Look
Charles Rosher photographed it, including the Alpine scenes at Lake Louise and the closing avalanche.
Music
Hugo Riesenfeld is credited with the score. The theme song "Eternal Love" is by Ballard MacDonald, Peter DeRose, and Dave Dreyer. The release used both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film.
Notes
- John Barrymore plays Marcus, Camilla Horn Ciglia, Victor Varconi Lorenz, Mona Rico Pia, and Hobart Bosworth Reverend Tass.
- Charles Rosher was the cinematographer.
- A theme song, "Eternal Love," is credited to Ballard MacDonald, Peter DeRose, and Dave Dreyer.
Scenes
- Pia plays the innocent and Ciglia hears the demand that Marcus marry her.
- Marcus and Ciglia walk hand in hand into the avalanche.
Influenced by
- Der König der Bernina (Jakob Christoph Heer)
Influenced
- The King of Bernina (1957)
