Scaramouche
About Scaramouche
André-Louis Moreau loves Aline de Kercadiou. The Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr kills André's friend Philippe de Vilmorin in a duel. André fails to get justice, flees, and hides in a theater troupe as the clown Scaramouche. In Paris he writes plays, duels aristocrats in the National Assembly, and wounds the marquis. When the Revolution breaks, he learns the marquis is his father. The marquis dies with André's sword in his hand, fighting a mob. André gets Aline and the Countess de Plougastel out of Paris on a passport from Danton.
Cast & crew
More about Scaramouche
Rex Ingram directed. Willis Goldbeck wrote the scenario, his first, from Rafael Sabatini's 1921 novel. John F. Seitz photographed it. Metro released it on 30 September 1923. Rights were bought in September 1922, after Ingram's The Prisoner of Zenda. Pre-production ran seven months. Harold Grieve built 18th-century Paris outdoors, with as many as 1,500 background players. An experimental Technicolor sequence was shot and thrown out. Technicolor paid for that test. David Sharpe arranged the fights. Ten reels, 9,850 feet.
Themes
Background
A 1923 Metro spectacle of the French Revolution, made while Novarro was being pushed as the successor to Valentino in costume pictures.
Making
Ingram held the company for months on sets in the San Fernando Valley so the Paris streets and the Assembly would be built rather than suggested.
Look
John F. Seitz shot the duels and the outdoor Paris. Harold Grieve's sets filled the Metro backlot and the valley.
Technique
A Technicolor test sequence was photographed and then cut. The company that owned the process paid for the experiment.
Music
William Axt is credited with music for the picture.
Preservation
In the U.S. public domain since 1 January 2019.
Notes
- Ramon Novarro plays André. Alice Terry, Ingram's wife, plays Aline. Lewis Stone plays the marquis.
- George Siegmann plays Danton. Otto Matieson plays Philippe.
- The film entered the U.S. public domain on 1 January 2019.
- Delays and cost overruns marked the shoot.
- The discarded color sequence was a Technicolor experiment, not part of the release print.
Scenes
- The marquis kills Philippe, and André cannot get a hearing.
- André duels as Scaramouche and wounds de la Tour.
- De la Tour dies using André's sword against the crowd.
Influenced by
- Scaramouche (Rafael Sabatini novel, 1921)
