The Spanish Dancer

The Spanish Dancer
The Spanish Dancer
	Lobby card
Directed by	Herbert Brenon
Written by	Adolphe Philippe d'Ennery (novel Don Cesar de Bazan); Dumanoir (Philippe Francois Pinel) (novel Don Cesar de Bazan); Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe François Pinel (play Don César de Bazan); June Mathis (treatment, scenario); Beulah Marie Dix (treatment, scenario)
Produced by	Famous Players–Lasky
Starring	Pola Negri; Antonio Moreno; Wallace Beery; Kathlyn Williams; Gareth Hughes; Adolphe Menjou; Anne Shirley
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Edited by	Helene Warne
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	November 4, 1923;
Running time	9 reels at 8,434 feet (approx. 90-100 minutes)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Spanish Dancer is a 1923 American silent costume epic starring Pola Negri as a gypsy fortune teller, Antonio Moreno as a romantic count, and Wallace Beery as the king of Spain. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon and also features a five-year-old Anne Shirley, appearing under the name "Dawn O'Day." The film survives today.^[1]

The film is essentially the same story as Mary Pickford's Rosita which was filmed around the same time as The Spanish Dancer with Negri's old colleague from Germany Ernst Lubitsch directing. Negri's The Spanish Dancer was considered the better film.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review,^[2] Maritana, a beautiful Spanish young woman, is so full of life and fun that she is adored by the poor people among whom she lives and who dote on her dancing in the public squares. Through her daring, she and her sweetheart Don Cesar de Bazan become involved in the affairs of the Spanish court, and he with his life is to pay the supreme penalty. Using her feminine charms and her artful wiles, she not only saves him but wins a respected place for herself.

Cast

Pola Negri as Maritana, Gypsy fortune teller
Antonio Moreno as Don Cesar de Bazan
Wallace Beery as King Philip IV
Kathlyn Williams as Queen Isabel of Bourbon
Gareth Hughes as Lazarillo
Adolphe Menjou as Don Salluste
Edward Kipling as Marquis de Rotundo
Henry Vogel as Olivares
Anne Shirley as Don Balthazar Carlos (credited as Dawn O'Day)
Charles A. Stevenson as Cardinal's Ambassador
Robert Agnew as Juan
Buck Black (uncredited)
Frank Coghlan Jr. (uncredited)
Gino Corrado as Musketeer (uncredited)
George J. Lewis (uncredited)
Virginia Bethel Moon as Grandmother (uncredited)

Preservation

The Spanish Dancer was restored by the EYE Film Institute in the Netherlands, and the film was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2012, accompanied by the 1916 Lois Weber film Shoes.

References

^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Spanish Dancer at silentera.com
^ "Tried and Proven Pictures: The Spanish Dancer". Exhibitors Trade Review. New York, NY: Exhibitors Review Publishing Corporation: 41. May 3, 1924. Retrieved November 28, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links

The Spanish Dancer at IMDb
Synopsis at AllMovie
Short film on the restoration of The Spanish Dancer (1923) by the EYE Institut on YouTube
The Spanish Dancer on YouTube (nonrestored version)
The Spanish Dancer: being a translation from the original French by Henry L. Williams of Don Caesar de Bazan, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Pola Negri edition with illustrations from the Paramount film; on the Internet Archive

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[1] Progressive Silent Film List: The Spanish Dancer at silentera.com

[2] "Tried and Proven Pictures: The Spanish Dancer". Exhibitors Trade Review. New York, NY: Exhibitors Review Publishing Corporation: 41. May 3, 1924. Retrieved November 28, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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