When a Man Loves

1927 HistoryRomance 111 minutes Directed by Alan Crosland

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About When a Man Loves

Chevalier Fabien des Grieux is bound for the priesthood when he meets Manon Lescaut, who is traveling to a convent with her brother André. The Comte de Morfontaine tries to buy her. Fabien takes her to a Paris garret, André pulls her away, and the king later claims her in Richelieu's drawing room. Morfontaine has her arrested for deportation. Fabien kills him, boards the convict ship, starts a mutiny, and escapes with Manon in a small boat toward America.

Cast & crew

More about When a Man Loves

Alan Crosland directed Bess Meredyth's adaptation of Abbé Prévost's Manon Lescaut. In the novel Manon dies; the film sends the lovers toward America. The British title was His Lady.

Themes

  • A priest who leaves the church
  • A courtesan sold by her brother
  • Exile to America
  • A royal claim on Manon
  • Manon Lescaut
  • eighteenth-century France
  • convict ship
  • Vitaphone
  • Barrymore

Reviews

A New York Times reviewer wrote that he and the audience forgot there was no orchestra in the theater, because the Vitaphone score came from the speakers.

Look

Byron Haskin photographed the picture. The Vitaphone print closes with a short view of the Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra.

Music

Henry Hadley composed the synchronized score, played with sound effects on Vitaphone discs.

Preservation

A complete print survives and was issued on DVD by Warner Archive on June 16, 2009.

Notes

  • John Barrymore plays Fabien and Dolores Costello plays Manon. Warner Oland is André, Sam De Grasse is Morfontaine, and Stuart Holmes is Louis XV.
  • Myrna Loy appears as a woman on the ship.
  • It was the third Warner feature issued with a prerecorded Vitaphone score and effects, and no spoken dialogue.
  • New York opened it on February 3, 1927. The general United States release was August 21, 1927.
  • Of the reported rentals, $732,000 came from the United States and $305,000 from other markets.
  • Warner Archive put it on DVD on June 16, 2009, its first home-video release.

Scenes

  • The king wins Manon in Richelieu's drawing room.
  • Fabien and Manon leave the convict ship in a small boat.

Influenced by

  • Manon Lescaut (Abbé Prévost)

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (When a Man Loves (1927).webm)
  • Warner Archive Collection (DVD, 2009)

Quotes

Yonder—America! For us freedom—And everlasting love!

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