The Divine Woman

The Divine Woman
Directed by Victor Sjöström
Produced by Richard A. Rowland
Written by John Colton (titles)
Dorothy Farnum (writer)
Based on Starlight 
by Gladys Unger
Starring Greta Garbo
Lars Hanson
Cinematography Oliver T. Marsh
Edited by Conrad A. Nervig
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • January 14, 1928 (1928-01-14)
Running time
80 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film
English intertitles
Budget $266,817.14[1]

The Divine Woman (1928) is an American silent film directed by Victor Sjöström and starring Greta Garbo. Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Only a single nine-minute reel[2] and an additional 45 second excerpt[3][4] are currently known to exist of this otherwise lost film.

Origin

The film is adapted from the 1925 Broadway play Starlight by Gladys Unger, which starred Doris Keane. The plot is loosely based on stories of the early life of the French actress Sarah Bernhardt.

Plot

Marianne (Greta Garbo) is a poor French country girl who goes to Paris in the 1860s to seek her fortune as an actress. As she rises to success in the theatre, she must choose between the romantic attentions of two men. The first is Lucien (Lars Hanson), a poor but passionate young soldier who deserts the army to be with Marianne and goes to jail after stealing a dress to give her. Her other suitor is Henry Legrand (Lowell Sherman), a wealthy middle-aged Paris producer who offers her fame and fortune.

Cast

Existing reel

Only one reel from the film is known to exist. It runs nine minutes and was discovered in 1993 at the Gosfilmofond, a film archive in Moscow. This film fragment has been released on DVD with a collection of Garbo films and has been broadcast on Turner Classic Movies. Its Russian intertitles have been translated into English. In this section of the film, Marianne is seen living in Paris in modest rooms. After a playful interchange with Mme. Pigionier, Marianne is joined by Lucien. The two lovers share a few poignant minutes together as the time approaches for him to return to the army.

See also

References

  1. Alexander Walker; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (October 1980). Garbo: a portrait. Macmillan. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-02-622950-0. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  2. The Divine Woman at silentera.com
  3. Greta's Lost and Found at Mikaelas filmblogg
  4. Svenska Filminstitutet - Resultatredovisning 2011 Pg. 17 (Swedish)

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.