The Bohemian Girl

1922 Romance 70 minutes (original release) Directed by Harley Knoles

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About The Bohemian Girl

Count Arnheim governs an Austrian province beside a forest where a Gypsy Queen camps with her lieutenant Devilshoof. Devilshoof hides Thaddeus, a Polish refugee, in gypsy clothes. Thaddeus saves Arnheim's small daughter Arline from a bear and returns her, then refuses a toast to the Austrian emperor and is thrown out. Devilshoof kidnaps Arline. Twelve years later she and Thaddeus are in love. The Queen, who wants Thaddeus, gives Arline a stolen medallion. Count Florestein recognizes it and has her arrested. Arnheim, sitting as judge, does not know her until she says her name and the old nurse Buda recognizes the child.

Cast & crew

More about The Bohemian Girl

Harley Knoles directed and produced, and shared the screenplay with Rosina Henley. Josef von Sternberg is listed with Knoles in the director credit. René Guissart photographed. Alliance made it in Britain. Astra Film and American Releasing handled the American release. It comes from Michael William Balfe and Alfred Bunn's opera The Bohemian Girl, itself drawn from Cervantes's La Gitanilla. Released in July 1922 at 70 minutes, eight reels. The surviving print lacks the first two reels and a short piece of the last, and runs 46 minutes.

Themes

  • A child taken from a castle
  • A toast refused
  • A medallion that brings her home
  • Gladys Cooper
  • Ivor Novello
  • Arline
  • Thaddeus
  • Devilshoof

Making

Knoles shot a silent version of a sung opera. What remains of the spectacle is the forest camp, the banquet, and the trial in Arnheim's castle.

Look

René Guissart photographed the forest camp, the castle banquet, and the trial.

Preservation

The original ran 70 minutes. The surviving print is missing the first two reels and a small part of the last, and times at 46 minutes.

Notes

  • Gladys Cooper plays the grown Arline. Ivor Novello is Thaddeus. C. Aubrey Smith is Devilshoof. Constance Collier is the Queen. Ellen Terry is Buda, the nurse. Henry Vibart is Count Arnheim. Gibb McLaughlin is Captain Florenstein.
  • The missing opening reels are the kidnapping and the explanation of how the Polish officer came to live with the caravan.
  • Lines from the opera's songs survive only as phrases in the intertitles.

Scenes

  • Thaddeus will not drink to the Austrian emperor and is put out of the banquet.
  • Devilshoof carries Arline away from the castle.
  • On trial before her own father, Arline says her name and the nurse Buda knows her.

Influenced by

  • The Bohemian Girl (opera)
  • La Gitanilla

Also available

  • Internet Archive (silent-the-bohemian-girl)