When a Man Loves | |
---|---|
movie poster |
|
Directed by | Alan Crosland |
Produced by | Warner Bros. |
Written by | Abbé Prevost (novel) Bess Meredyth (adaptation/scenario) |
Starring | John Barrymore Dolores Costello |
Music by | Henry Hadley (composer) Herman Heller (orchestra conductor) |
Cinematography | Byron Haskin Frank Kesson |
Editing by | Harold McCord |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date(s) | August 21, 1927 |
Running time | 111 mins |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent film English intertitles |
When a Man Loves is a 1927 American silent historical drama film directed by Alan Crosland and produced and distributed by Warner Bros.. The picture stars John Barrymore and Dolores Costello in the oft filmed story of Abbe Prevost's Manon Lescaut.
The film was the third feature from Warners to have a pre-recorded Vitaphone soundtrack. Many of the same people who worked on the previous years Don Juan worked on this picture (i.e. Alan Crosland, Bess Meredyth, Harold McCord, Byron Haskin). [1]
Contents |
A French adventurer studying for the priesthood fights to save a woman in the life of prostitution.
When the film was being played in the theatre, people were so amazed that the sound was coming from the speakers, not an actual orchestra. A New York Times reviewer said that he and probably the rest of the audience forgot the fact that there was actually no orchestra in the theatre. At the end of the film, The Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra was revealed to the audience for about 15 seconds.
This film yields a lot of John Barrymore's influence. It re-teams him with Dolores Costello from The Sea Beast of 1925 presumably at his insistence. The film is the third and last film in his first Warners contract having been preceded by The Sea Beast and Don Juan. He and Crosland would re-team once again at United Artists to make The Beloved Rogue, another French costume story that was selected because of the popularity of When a Man Loves. This film version of When a Man Loves repeats the ending of The Sea Beast, that is supplanting a happy ending rather than the tragic ending of the source material.[2]
On June 16, 2009,When a Man Loves was released on DVD from Warner's Archive Collection. This was the film's first home video appearance anywhere.[3]
The film aired on TCM on December 12, 2006 after its restoration for Silent Sunday and again on April 11, 2010.
|