Romola
About Romola
Pirates take the scholar Baldassaro. His adopted son Tito Melema reaches Florence with a ring that opens doors among the learned, just as Savonarola's followers have driven out Piero de' Medici. Tito wins a place with the blind scholar Bardo and marries Bardo's daughter Romola, who loves the artist Carlo. Backed by the adventurer Spini, Tito becomes chief magistrate, sells Bardo's books, and keeps the street vendor Tessa in a house after a carnival "marriage" she believes is real. He signs a decree against Savonarola, the mob chases him, and he leaves Tessa to drown. Downstream, Baldassaro, whom Tito will not recognize, drowns him. Dying, Tessa asks Romola to take the child. Romola and Carlo stay together.
Cast & crew
More about Romola
Henry King directed for Inspiration Pictures, the company built around King, Charles Duell, Lillian Gish, and Richard Barthelmess. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it. It was the second Inspiration film in which King directed Gish and Ronald Colman. Jules Furthman is credited as writer on Wikidata. The script comes from George Eliot's 1863 novel.
Themes
Background
The story is set in Florence after Piero de' Medici is driven out and Girolamo Savonarola is preaching.
Making
Powell later called the 29-week shoot a comedy of errors that began with the capsized pirate boat. After the Milan detour he and Colman were left hungry in Livorno. Once the company settled, he said the schedule was loose enough that they had time to enjoy Florence and learn some Italian.
Reviews
Edward Wagenknecht wrote that Romola did poorly because it lacked melodramatic appeal, and that Gish's part was not given enough dramatic intensity. Lillian Gish later said the film caused her so much trouble, and that she differed with so much of it, that she could not think of Romola without sadness for what might have been done with Eliot's story.
Audiences
Wagenknecht reports a weak box-office response.
Look
Roy F. Overbaugh and William Schurr shot the film on location in Florence and in the port town of Livorno. The pirate sequence begins with a boat that capsized.
Music
Louis F. Gottschalk composed the score.
Preservation
A print is held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Notes
- William Powell plays Tito, billed as William H. Powell. Dorothy Gish plays Tessa. Herbert Grimwood plays Savonarola. Frank Puglia plays Spini. Bonaventura Ibáñez plays Bardo.
- Roy F. Overbaugh and William Schurr photographed it. Louis F. Gottschalk wrote the music.
- The boat for the pirate scene capsized at the start of shooting.
- Nobody in the company spoke Italian. Tights for Powell and Colman took a two-week trip to a La Scala tailor in Milan.
- Powell and Colman came back to Livorno and found the company gone, with no forwarding address. They cabled London and New York and ran out of money for food.
Scenes
- Baldassaro gives Tito a ring before the pirates take him.
- During carnival Tito goes through a mock marriage with Tessa, who treats it as real.
- Tito sells Bardo's books and Romola leaves him.
- Baldassaro drowns Tito in the river after Tito refuses to recognize him.
Influenced by
- Romola (George Eliot)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-romola)
