The Charlatan
About The Charlatan
Peter Dwight, a circus clown played by Holmes Herbert, is left by his wife Florence (Margaret Livingston), who takes their daughter and goes off with Richard Talbot (Rockliffe Fellowes). Fifteen years later Dwight is working as a phony Hindu seer, Professor Merlin, and finds Florence about to leave Talbot for another man. At her party he exposes her in the crystal ball, then she is shut in a magic cabinet and found dead inside. A doctor says she was pricked with a poisoned needle, and the district attorney tries to arrest Dwight. Dwight locks the district attorney up, impersonates him, and gets Talbot to admit the murder. He is cleared and reunited with his daughter.
Cast & crew
More about The Charlatan
Carl Laemmle Jr. produced the Universal-Jewel picture. J. G. Hawks wrote the scenario from Robert N. Lee's adaptation of Ernest Pascal and Leonard Praskins's play, which opened in New York on 24 April 1922. Jacques Rollens and Tom Reed wrote the dialogue, and Reed wrote the titles. George Melford shot it at Universal City in December 1928.
Themes
Making
Universal first assigned the story to Paul Fejos and, later, bought the play for Conrad Veidt. Once the studio decided to add dialogue, Variety of 5 December 1928 reported that it signed Holmes Herbert, who had already made talkies, and Veidt went with Fejos to The Last Performance.
Reviews
Variety of 17 April 1929 said only about fifteen minutes contained dialogue, mostly near the climax, and that the dialogue ran "from adequate to pretty terrible." The same review said the elaborate explanation would have been cumbersome in talk and was "heavy enough silent."
Look
George Robinson photographed the black-and-white film at Universal City, including the party and the cabinet sequence.
Music
The sound version uses Western Electric Movietone sound-on-film, with a synchronized score, effects, and talking sequences. Universal also issued a silent version.
Preservation
Silent Era lists a surviving print, and the circulating copy is reported to be the silent version. AFI, citing the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, records only one reel of the silent version.
Notes
- Film Daily of 25 November 1928 said shooting would start the next Monday. Exhibitors Herald-Weekly of 5 January 1929 said Melford had taken the last shots the week before.
- Harrison's Reports gives the synchronized version as 6,097 feet. Film Daily of 21 April 1929 also lists 6,506 feet for the sound version and 5,972 feet for the silent version. It is seven reels.
- Universal copyrighted it on 29 March 1929 (LP259).
- The synchronized version opened at the Colony Theatre in New York on 13 April 1929.
- Jacques Rollens wrote and directed the dialogue sequences. Variety of 20 February 1929 named Herbert, Livingston, Fellowes, Philo McCullough, Rose Tapley, and Fred Mackaye in those scenes.
- An IMDb note says the copy in circulation is the all-silent version. A 6 July 1929 Excelsior Theatre herald in Bombay billed it as a Universal picture that was 30 percent talking.
Scenes
- Merlin describes Florence's past in the crystal ball at her own party.
- She is found dead in the cabinet that was supposed to make her disappear.
- Dwight locks up the district attorney and questions Talbot in his place.
Influenced by
- The Charlatan, play by Ernest Pascal and Leonard Praskins (New York, 1922)
