The Tragedy of Silence
About The Tragedy of Silence
A Colombian engineer on the Ferrocarril Central spends his spare time planning an orphanage with Father Alberto. A lab mix-up tells him he has leprosy. He tells his wife and daughter, and a student begins to court his wife. As he is about to kill himself, he learns the sample was someone else’s. He keeps the marriage.
Cast & crew
More about The Tragedy of Silence
Arturo Acevedo Vallarino directed this silent melodrama. It first played on 18 July 1924 at the Faenza theatre in Bogotá. Alberto Urdaneta Forero wrote a score that was performed with the screening, the first composed score for a Colombian silent film. It was later shown in Panama and Venezuela.
Themes
Background
It opened in Bogotá in 1924, when Colombian features were still rare, and then traveled to Panama and Venezuela.
Making
The Faenza opening used live music by Urdaneta Forero rather than a cue sheet borrowed from another picture.
Reviews
At the Faenza opening it was well received. Later comment attacked the leprosy story for the picture it might give of Colombia.
Music
Silent picture. Alberto Urdaneta Forero wrote a score played at the projection, the first for a Colombian silent film.
Preservation
Incomplete. The Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano keeps a 22-minute, 45-second excerpt.
Notes
- Lely Vargas and Alberto López Isaza are in the cast. Gonzalo Acevedo Bernal plays the student.
- The Spanish title is La tragedia del silencio.
- Some viewers said a film about leprosy would hurt Colombia’s image, and that it would push down the price of Colombian coffee abroad.
- The Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano holds an excerpt of 22 minutes and 45 seconds.
- The rest of the picture has not survived.
Scenes
- He is told the test shows leprosy and he tells his wife and daughter.
- He is about to kill himself when the lab mix-up comes out.