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A Masterpiece!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Ramon Novarro (André-Louis), Alice Terry (Aline), Lewis Stone (the marquis), Lloyd Ingraham (André's godfather), Julia Swayne Gordon (the countess), William Humphrey (the chevalier), Otto Mattiesen (de Vilmorin), George Siegmann (Danton), Bowditch Turner (Le Chapelier), James A. Marcus (Binet), Edith Allen (Climene Binet), Lydia Yeamans Titus (Madame Binet), John George (little man in the Binet company), Nelson McDowell (Rhodomont), De Garcia Fuerberg (Robespierre), Roy Coulson (Murat), Edwin Argus (King Louis), Clothilde Delano (Marie Antoinette), Willard Lee Hall (king's lieutenant), Skavko Vorkapich (Napoleon Bonaparte), Lorimer Johnstone (Count Dupuye), Edwin Connelly (king's minister), Howard Gaye (Viscount d'Albert), William Dyer (brutal gamekeeper), J. Edward Brown (Benoit), Carrie Clarke Ward (Madame Benoit), Edward Coxen (Jacques), Rose Dione (flag- bearer of the Revolution), Arthur Jasmine (student), Tom Kennedy (dragoon), Carrie Daumery (gossip), Kalla Pasha (gate guard), B. Hyman, Louise Carver, Snitz Edwards, David Sharpe, Marjorie Reynolds, Jacques Tourneur.Director: REX INGRAM. Screenplay: Willis Goldbeck. Based on the 1921 novel by Rafael Sabatini. Photography: John F. Seitz. Film editor: Grant Whytock. Art directors: John J. Hughes, Amos Meyers, Harold Grieve. Costumes designed by O'Kane Cornwell, Eve Roth, Van Horn. Titles designed by J. W. Robson. Production manager: Curt Rehfeld. Assistant director: Arthur Smith. Producer: Rex Ingram. A Rex Ingram Production for Metro Pictures.Copyright 10 October 1923. New York opening at the 44th Street Theatre: 30 September 1923. 10 reels. 9,850 feet. 124 minutes. COMMENT: A superb, wonderfully faithful, brilliantly directed, awesomely expensive condensation of the Sabatini novel which makes the 1952 re-make look like a shoestring effort. All the players acquit themselves with honor, although Lewis Stone succeeds in dominating the movie with his chilling impersonation of the callous marquis whose beautiful manners mask an intransigent heart. The sets are out of this world, the photography breathtaking. And Alice Terry looks stunningly radiant in her gorgeous costumes.

Sticking a whole lot closer to the Rafael Sabatini novel than the MGM remake with Stewart Granger in the Fifties, the silent Scaramouche was an important milestone in the career of Ramon Novarro. It was also one of the bigger moneymakers of Metro Pictures before it combined the following year as part of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer colossus. Novarro's box office appeal was one of the bigger assets the newly created MGM acquired.Novarro strikes the right notes of passion, romance, and swashbuckling derring-do as the young lawyer of questionable parentage who starts an odyssey of adventure when he runs afoul of nobleman Lewis Stone when he calls him out after Stone who is a master swordsman kills young Otto Matieson in a one sided contest.With the authorities looking for him in the France of Louis XVI, Novarro takes refuge in a troupe of strolling players and plays the famous clown character Scaramouche. Before the film France falls to the Revolutionary Terror and Novarro discovers his true heritage and his true love. Scaramouche firmly established Novarro as the number one rival of Latin Lover Rudolphe Valentino. In fact Novarro seemed to be able to handle a bigger variety of roles in silent films than Valentino. Of course we'll never know what Valentino might have done in the sound era.Lewis Stone as the villainous nobleman who is the bane of Novarro's existence is a far cry from Judge Hardy of Carvel, the ever wise father of Mickey Rooney and Cecilia Parker later on. But Stone from the time he was on stage before the Spanish American War handled a variety of parts in stock companies and Broadway. Those were the days where you had these local theater groups to learn your trade and Stone learned it better than most. He and Lionel Barrymore were mainstays in just about every MGM production of note while they were with the studio.Scaramouche is a deserved silent classic and don't miss it when TCM decides to run it.

Ramon Novarro stars as André-Louis Moreau. Lewis Stone is Moreau's enemy, the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr. And, Alice Terry is the woman they both love, Aline de Kercadiou. The story is set during the time of the French Revolution. The film begins with Mr. Stone as the Marquis de la Tour killing Mr. Novarro (Moreau's) best friend, which makes them great enemies. Enemies usually like the same woman; in this case, the coveted Ms. Terry (as Aline) creates the additional animosity.This is a well-produced spectacle, from director Rex Ingram; the film obviously cost a fortune, and the money was well spent, creating a beautiful looking film. Mr. Ingram does a great job of pacing the approximately two hours of film; it retains much of its pace today, relative to other 1920s epics. Ingram's cinematographer John F. Seitz and star Ramon Novarro are indispensable. Mr. Seitz' photography is great, from the windmilly opening until the final conflicts. Some of the spectacular scenes are still terrific; but, some do look like they were staged to fit the movie screen, where everyone gathers for "Action!"Mr. Novarro's lead performance is excellent; though, it might have been wise to let him use more of the ahead-of-their-time skills that are clearly evident. But, what's left is fine - best are the "looks" from the performers, which are not overacted (mostly). Lewis, Terry, and most everyone performs well. Novarro must join an acting troupe, by the way, while on-the-run - he becomes "Monsieur X" and play acts clown "Scaramouche", giving the film its title. Watch for the relationship between Novarro and a woman from the troupe, and the reason he finally rejects her (it parallels the major love triangle). Also, watch for two of the characters to startlingly look exactly like/alike the "shocking" second revelation at the end of the film. ******** Scaramouche (9/15/23) Rex Ingram ~ Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, Lloyd Ingraham

Fleeing from the wrath of the vengeful Nobility, a young Frenchman joins a troupe of actors. Winning fame as the clown SCARAMOUCHE, the stalwart fellow finds himself drawn into the events surrounding the start of the Revolution.Following his big movie hit of the previous year - 1922's THE PRISONER OF ZENDA - director Rex Ingram discovered that cinematic lightning could indeed strike twice with this very fine adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's swashbuckling novel, "Scaramouche." Metro gave the production a high gloss, with excellent atmospherics, richly detailed exteriors & rousing mob scenes. It is always refreshing, in any epic film, to see every penny the studio invested represented on the screen.Ingram reunited his principal cast from ZENDA - Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone & Alice Terry - as stars for SCARAMOUCHE. Novarro, taking the hero role this time, proved he was no flash in the pan. Equally adept as sensitive lover or dueling revolutionary, with this performance Novarro was catapulted to Hollywood's upper ranks. Stone gives a finely nuanced performance as the villain of the story, slowly revealing layers to the man's personality not readily apparent at first. Miss Terry, who was Ingram's wife, is lovely, but the plot gives her little to do except look distressed or frightened.In the supporting cast, special note should be given to George Siegmann, striking in the historical role of Danton. Edward Connelly, as the King's Minister, makes a marvelous grotesque.It is interesting to note that Italian-born British author Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) had been a novelist for many years before striking gold with "Scaramouche." Its popularity with the public, to say nothing of this acclaimed movie adaptation, pushed it permanently onto that small shelf of fiction (and films) - "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Scarlet Pimpernel" & ORPHANS OF THE STORM - forever associated with the French Revolution. Sabatini also wrote the swashbuckler adventure novels "The Sea Hawk" & "Captain Blood."