Don Juan. 1926. Directed by Alan Crosland.

(3/26/00)

This film is a very handsome production, set in Spain and Rome of the renaissance. It is an exciting show, full of intrigue and swordplay, climaxed with a great rescue on horseback and capped by a bravura performance by John Barrymore. It is larger-than-lifce, the stuff of grand opera.

It begins with a prologue. Don Juan's father is alerted to his wife's adultery by a mean-spirited dwarf. He bricks the lover up in a wall, casts out his wife and admonishes his small son to never give his love to a woman. He then revels in debauchery until a jealous woman stabs him. He takes a very long time to die. Don Juan's father, by the way, is also played by the great Barrymore.

Growing up, Don Juan comes to Rome where the Borgias hold sway. We enjoy watching him get away with it when several of his lovers appear at his house at the same time and when he goies right after a maid at the Borgia palace. Then he saves the Duke Della Varnese from being poisoned--a feat which is admirable in addition to being clever. Adrianna, Donati's daughter, expresses her indebtedness which Juan takes as a sexual offer.

He comes to her bedroom to collect her anticipated reward, which shocks her. He first thinks she is just being coy, but later believes her and leaves. She restores his faith in woman primarily because she isn't interested in having sex. Not a very good reason as far as I am concerned, but it's a standard convention in this kind of film.

That I can accept, but there is something else that I couldn't. Later on, one of Juan's mistresses shows up at his house, worried that her husband suspects their affair. She hides, he comes and we discover that she has meanwhile killed herself. (I did say that it was all larger-than-life.) The husband is overcome with grief and curses Don Juan (effectively, if not actually--I forget the details). The two later meet in the prison of San Angelo where the husband has been imprisoned for murdering his wife. His anguish is repeated as well as a demand for justice. When Juan escapes he calls for him to go to a living hell.

Now, in an operatic, larger-than-life drama curses are taken seriously. And in a popular film we expect a basic moral law to operate in which one pays for the harm one has done to others. Don Juan ruined this man's life through his irresponsibility. (It could be argued that it was really his wife's action which was her own choice which was the problem, but the film doesn't argue that.) So, even though he reforms and turns into a "good guy," he should pay for that--not ride off scot-free with the heroine into the promise of a new dawn. I was shocked at how the film ended with no punishment at all befalling Don Juan.

Moreover, the poor, grieving husband is left rotting away in San Angelo for a murder he didn't commit. That was horrible, all the more so because his grief convinced me that he really loved his wife and most likely would have forgiven her. She was just a vulnerable human being who had fallen into the hands of a master seducer.

It's a popular film that shouldn't be scrutinized too closely, but the ending seemed so wrong to me--or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the business with the wronged husband undermined the ending for me--really soured it.

The duel between John Barrymore and Montagu Love is a real standout, one of the best duels I've seen on film. I think it is marred by the sound effects which seem phoney in what is basically a silent film. The musical score grated on me early in the picture, but I found myself enjoying it very much during the final chase. Neither a true silent film nor a talkie, Don Juan unfortunately seems somewhat unnatural as far as the soundtrack is concerned.

As far is Barrymore is concerned, I was most struck by his grace. His movements were so elegant. And he certainly had presence. And he is wonderful when he impersonates Neri, the torturer. But I do think that his famous profile was over-used; it became a cliche.

Warners' Don Juan was a lavish and popular entertainment. It was a good show and well-played by all. But I was bothered by the ending which I don't think was resolved well.