DVD/150: CAMILLE (Ray C Smallwood, 1921)

Amazingly this was the fifth screen version of Dumas' CAMILLE - and it was still only 1921!

Despite being 100 years old, this is still an amazing experience.

The film starred the astounding Alla Nazimova, a Russian actress who, after her Broadway debut in 1906, became one of the era's leading actresses, famous for roles in Chekhov, Turgenev and Ibsen.  She easily transferred to film in 1916 and in only five years had her own production company, and was writing and co-directing.

Another powerful woman wrote it: June Mathis was one of Hollywood's leading writers and the only female executive at Metro.  In 1921 she discovered Rudolf Valentino, making him an overnight sensation in FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE so he was obvious casting for Armand in CAMILLE.

Another female powerhouse involved was Natacha Rambova whose art deco designs are still fabulous, she and Valentino became lovers during the filming.

Shelf or charity shop?  It's a keeper anyway as it is on the same DVD as Garbo's 1936 sound version but this CAMILLE remains a lasting tribute to a trio of powerful women.  Poor Valentino really doesn't stand a chance and it is a curious experience to watch him when only 5 years later, his death would make him one of the great icons of the silent screen. Mathis' modern-dress CAMILLE is a whistle-stop ride through the tale: too quick for the love story to really develop.  The film remains a testament to the extraordinary Nazimova, 100 years on and she still fascinates.  She doesn't just drink a glass of champagne, she drains it while bending over backwards, but she is also capable of moments of great stillness and her deathbed scene is understated pathos at it's best.  By the coming of sound this heightend creative atmosphere was long gone, Valentino and Mathis died within a year of each other, Nazimova's Hollywood power ended in 1923 with the disasterous reception that greeted her version of Wilde's SALOME although she did return for two 'mother' roles in the 1940s, while Rambova turned her back on the cinema to become an Egyptologist.