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6.5/10
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A courtesan and an idealistic young man fall in love, only for her to give up the relationship at his status-conscious father's request.A courtesan and an idealistic young man fall in love, only for her to give up the relationship at his status-conscious father's request.A courtesan and an idealistic young man fall in love, only for her to give up the relationship at his status-conscious father's request.
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Did you know
- TriviaThe original play opened in Paris in 1852. The first Broadway production opened on 9 December 1853. There have been 15 Broadway revivals of the popular play, the last (to date) in 1935.
- Quotes
Title Card: Winter. Paris, magic city of pleasure, yet beneath its tinseled gaiety throbbing with life's grim note of passion and tragedy.
- Alternate versionsOn 14 February 2002, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) broadcast the television premiere of the film with a new score by Peter Vantine, and a running time of 70 minutes. Vantine won the privilege of providing the score from a nationwide contest conducted by TCM, in which there were 375 entries. This version can be seen as a special feature on the Warner Bros. Home Video DVD for Camille (1936), released in 2005.
Featured review
An Unusual Version of the Famous Dumas Tale
Valentino was still something of an unknown quantity when this film was made, and although it was adapted from the screen by his mentor June Mathis and designed by his wife Natasha Rambova, CAMILLE is not a Valentino film. It belongs instead to Alla Nazimova, whose eccentric charm that combined both frantic gaiety and an exhausted world-weariness made her the most highly regarded "high-art" performer of her day.
Surely by now every one knows at least the basic outline of the story, which French author Dumas drew from life: Marguerite Gautier (Nazimova) is a celebrated courtesan who despises her life and yet cannot break free of it. When confronted with true love in the form of society youth Armand (Valentino), however, she attempts to leave her past behind--only to be convinced by her lover's father that if she really loves Armand she must leave him that he might take his rightful place in society. She returns to her old life, where she dies of consumption with her one true love's name upon her lips.
Nazimova, who is credited with introducing the Russian "method" to the New York stage, is an extremely interesting Camille. Unlike the later Garbo, she offers us a truly neurotic creature who in public screams with nervous energy--and then in private collapses under the twin weights of self-loathing and her increasing illness. At times her performance goes as far over the top as her hairstyle, but the cumulative result is exceptionally affecting. Valentino is typically Valentino, with an intriguing presence that relies more upon appearance than actual skill, and his performance adds no significant dimension to the part of Armand; this may, however, be an unfair criticism, for the role is notoriously thankless.
Rambova's strange set design for Marguerite's apartment is a highlight of the film and worth studying, very 1920s modern and yet still far advanced of anything commonly seen in even contemporary decor, and the cinematography gives CAMILLE an effectively lyrical feel. All in all, the film might best be considered as a high-art experiment that does not entirely come off, but even so it gives us the opportunity to see Nazimov near the height of her appeal, and as such is recommended to all silent film fans.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Surely by now every one knows at least the basic outline of the story, which French author Dumas drew from life: Marguerite Gautier (Nazimova) is a celebrated courtesan who despises her life and yet cannot break free of it. When confronted with true love in the form of society youth Armand (Valentino), however, she attempts to leave her past behind--only to be convinced by her lover's father that if she really loves Armand she must leave him that he might take his rightful place in society. She returns to her old life, where she dies of consumption with her one true love's name upon her lips.
Nazimova, who is credited with introducing the Russian "method" to the New York stage, is an extremely interesting Camille. Unlike the later Garbo, she offers us a truly neurotic creature who in public screams with nervous energy--and then in private collapses under the twin weights of self-loathing and her increasing illness. At times her performance goes as far over the top as her hairstyle, but the cumulative result is exceptionally affecting. Valentino is typically Valentino, with an intriguing presence that relies more upon appearance than actual skill, and his performance adds no significant dimension to the part of Armand; this may, however, be an unfair criticism, for the role is notoriously thankless.
Rambova's strange set design for Marguerite's apartment is a highlight of the film and worth studying, very 1920s modern and yet still far advanced of anything commonly seen in even contemporary decor, and the cinematography gives CAMILLE an effectively lyrical feel. All in all, the film might best be considered as a high-art experiment that does not entirely come off, but even so it gives us the opportunity to see Nazimov near the height of her appeal, and as such is recommended to all silent film fans.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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- gftbiloxi
- May 21, 2005
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- Also known as
- Dama sa Kamelijama
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- Runtime1 hour 12 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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