Madame DuBarry (1919)

Note des utilisateurs:

6.2/10   

Réalisateur:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Norbert Falk (writer)
Hanns Kräly (writer)

Release Date:

27 septembre 1920 (Finland)

Genre:

Drame

Accroche:

Dramatic! Beauty! Splendor! (1928 re-issue poster)

Plot:

The story of Madame DuBarry, the mistress of Louis XV of France, and her loves in the time of the French revolution. |

Plot Keywords:

French Revolution | Mistress | 1700s | King Louis XV | Marie Jeanne Bécu Du Barry

Avis des utilisateurs:

Lacks the "Lubitsch Touch".

Ensemble

Pola Negri	...	Jeanne Vaubernier - later Madame Dubarry
Emil Jannings	...	König Louis XV
Harry Liedtke	...	Armand De Foix
Eduard von Winterstein	...	Graf Jean Dubarry
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Minister Choiseul
Else Berna	...	Graefin Gramont
Fred Immler	...	Richelieu
Gustav Czimeg	...	Aiguillon
Karl Platen	...	Guillaume Dubarry
Bernhard Goetzke	...	Revolutionär
Magnus Stifter	...	Don Diego
Paul Biensfeldt	...	Lebel
Willy Kaiser-Heyl	...	Oberst der Wache
Alexander Ekert	...	Paillet (as Alexander Eckert)
Robert Sortsch-Pla
Marga Köhler	...	Madame Labille
Paul Wegener	...	(unconfirmed)
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Victor Janson	...	Zamor - ein Neger (as Viktor Janson)

Réalisé par
Ernst Lubitsch

Scénaristes (in alphabetical order)
Norbert Falk		writer (as Fred Orbing)
Hanns Kräly		writer

Produit par
Paul Davidson	....	producer

Musique originale
William Axt		(1920) (uncredited)
David Mendoza		(1920) (uncredited)

Image
Theodor Sparkuhl
Kurt Waschneck

Montage
Elfi Böttrich		(new version)

Création des décors
Karl Machus
Kurt Richter

Création des costumes
Ali Hubert

Technicien du son
Rudolf Wohlschläger	....	sound: new version

Camera and Electrical Department
Fritz Arno Wagner	....	assistant camera

Production Companies

• Projektions-AG Union (PAGU)

Distributors

• Universum Film (UFA) (1919) (Germany) (theatrical)
• First National Pictures (1920) (USA) (theatrical)
• Grapevine Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Nordisk Film Co. (????) (Switzerland) (theatrical)

Autre(s) titre(s):

Passion
Madame du Barry (France) [fr]

Durée:

85 min | 113 min (20 fps)

Pays:

Germany

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Son:

Silent

Classification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating)

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Sans-Souci, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Projektions-AG Union (PAGU)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Life Is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri (2006)

Lacks the "Lubitsch Touch".

This early effort by Lubitsch is disappointingly heavy going, lacking the famous light touch of his later films. This is full on melodrama with little sense of fun, or history, as it tells the story of Louis xv's lover. Apparently this film caused a sensation when, re-titled "Passion", it was released in the USA. It also established its star and director on the international scene. It's very hard to understand why.

Negri and Jannings are quite good in the lead roles but are given few opportunities to shine. The camerawork is stilted and there is little in the way of visual interest, despite some large crowd scenes and lavish sets and costumes. It's all rather dull.

The print I saw ran at 110 minutes, with a relentlessly heavy music score, and was badly washed out. This made it quite hard to distinguish some of the characters as their powdered wigs changed them into white blobs - and some of the overly long letters were unreadable.