beau brummel ( 1924 film )
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beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor. the film was directed by harry beaumont and based. click here to subscribe: directed by harry beaumont written by dorothy farnum based on beau brummel (1890 play) by clyde fitch cast. beau brummel is a. beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama. the film stars john barrymore and was directed by harry beaumont. the film is based on clyde. beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor. the film was directed by harry beaumont and based .
beau brummel 1924 by warner bros. by harry beaumont: urltoken harry beaumont: dvd & blu - ray
the most likely john barrymore film viewed by mary, charles blake, mabel lane fox and tony gillingham is beau brummel [ 3 ], the only john barrymore film of 1924, and the first since sherlock holmes in 1922. it debuted on march 30, 1924 .
beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor. the film was directed by harry beaumont and based upon clyde fitch' s historical play which had been performed by richard mansfield and depicts the life of the british regency dandy beau brummell .
john barrymore & mary astor as gordon bryon' beau' brummel lady margery alvanley film title beau brummel directed by harry beaumont film company warner bros. 30 march 1924 * * warning * * this photograph is for editorial use only and is the copyright of film company warner bros. and / or the photographer assigned by the film or production company & can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above film. a mandatory credit to film company warner bros. is required. the photographer should also be credited when known. no commercial use can be granted without written authority from the film company .
survival status: prints exist in the film holdings of emgee film library [ 16mm reduction positive ]; and in private film collections [ 16mm reduction positives ] .
das wachsfigurenkabinett (el hombre de las figuras de cera / wax works) (1924). avi
and so, finally, after much perambulation around the film’s contexts, i arrive at beau brummel itself. unlike me, this movie wastes no time; we don’t see the romance between beau (or george) and lady margery blossom—we see it cut off in medias res .
warner brothers pictures, incorporated, production; distributed by warner brothers pictures, incorporated. / scenario by dorothy farnum, from the play beau brummel by clyde fitch. cinematography by david abel. / released 30 march 1924. / standard 35mm spherical 1. 33: 1 format. / shooting on the film began in september 1923 .
beau brummel follows the trajectory of a rise and fall. as a young officer, brummel falls in love with lady margery, an heiress betrothed to an aristocrat and fails to rescue her from the clutches of her family .
beau brummell - from suavity & riches... . to syphilis & insanity
beau brummell: this charming man (2006) [ sub. en español ]
and no man incarnated the ideals of dandyism more famously than beau brummel, the subject of today’s offering, a 1924 silent period drama based on his spectacular life. (n. b. i am spelling the character’s name brummel because that’s how it’s written on the titles. however, the favored spelling, according to the junta at urltoken. is with two l’s. )
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
as george bryon brummel .
the arbiter of fashion and the social ruler of england during the reign of george iii
according to the film' s opening title card .
we’re not mushy about love stories and romance – we’re mushy about loss, death, and human suffering and loneliness. beau brummel – a silent movie made in 1924 – is about all of those things; a tragic romance. and since most movies don’t make me cry, i always feel any movie that does is worth looking at .
however, i hope that our director, the talented mr. beaumont, won’t roll over in his grave if i observe beau brummel wears the unmistakable charm and savoir faire of john barrymore front and center—like a gracefully tied cravat—and deserves most of the credit for this film’s emotional impact .
george bryan brummel, a british military officer, loves lady margery, the betrothed of lord alvanley. despite her own desperate love for brummel, she submits to family pressure and marries lord alvanley. brummel, broken - hearted, embarks upon a life of revelry .
a growing source of silent era film information. this listing is from the progressive silent film list by carl bennett. copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company. all rights reserved .
our star is also responsible for perhaps this film’s most significant contribution to posterity: mary astor’s breakout role .
cast: john barrymore (gordon bryon' beau' brummel), mary astor (lady margery alvanley), willard louis (princes of wales), carmel myers (lady hester stanhope) .
nitrite diva, i found myself misty - eyed by your beau brummel review, with the way you blended the film’s plot with the real - life love between mary astor and john barrymore. what a poignant post this was. now i want to see the whole film; i’m hoping it’s on tcm during their silent sunday nights. thank you so much for joining our mary astor blogathon and sharing this remarkable find with us !
john barrymore may have one of the more handsome profiles in silent film history, but his record of creating investing films is weak to say the least. beau brummel was, unfortunately, for the most part terribly boring. in fact, the entire ride of the beau into his notoriety was dull and slow. the last third of the movie is where things pick up and actually get quite heartfelt and sincere as the beau experiences his decline and ultimate downfall, both as a figure of society and as a man. here barrymore’s acting is to be commended as he plays the greying brummel to perfection. some interesting ghost effects were also a pleasant surprise
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
this film is lost. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] warner bros. records of the film' s negative have a notation ,
junked 12 / 27 / 48
( i. e. , december 27, 1948). warner bros. destroyed many of its negatives in the late 1940s and 1950s due to nitrate film pre - 1933 decomposition .
i' m really tempted to overthink this: with the tonal shift in act three, everything looks like a critique of celebrity - culture; that name didn' t exist in 1924, and the phenomenon as we know it today may have been a very recent development, but something of the sort has existed throughout history, and people in 1924 must have had some way of thinking about it .
thanks for the fabulous review and the interweaving of mary astor’s memories of the film. it really made it all come alive .
george bryan brummel, a british military officer, loves lady margery, the betrothed of lord alvanley. despite her own desperate love for brummel, she submits to family pressure and marries... see full summary »
director harry beaumont' s flavorful, romantic version of the beau brummel story, drawn from an 1890 production by american playwright clyde fitch, opens in 1795. it is the wedding night of beautiful maid margery (mary astor) who is about to wed lord alvanley (william humphrey). margery' s social climbing parents have arranged to enhance their own position by marrying their daughter off to the lord despite her love of the handsome captain beau brummel .
i am referring to that hallowed creature, the dandy. and if we want to enjoy beau brummel as anything other than a quaintly moving romance based on clyde fitch’s 1890 play, we need to introduce ourselves to this most charming phenomenon .
astor—a woman who never gave herself enough credit for her depth and strength—initially attracted attention from hollywoodland by winning a beauty contest. superficiality, at least, brought her to the screen and to all of us. her possessive parents, so cruel and pushy that they might have easily fit into the ruthlessly upwardly - mobile world of beau brummel, recognized her beauty as their cash cow. mary played several minor parts until john barrymore asked for her as his leading lady in beau brummel .
capitalized magnificently on barrymore and astor' s beauty (and ability to translate their real - life passion to film) and did well at the box - office. the film inspired warner brothers to offer barrymore a generous three - picture contract at $ 76, 250 a picture according to margot peters'
it’s achingly beautiful, with a modern score that’ll have you in tears just listening to it. most silent movies did not have a score written for them so when the dvds are released they have to provide music and the one for beau brummel is particularly good .
a commoner who became a famous social butterfly and fashion icon, the real beau brummel was a fastidious, exceptionally well turned out dandy in regency england who claimed it took him five hours to dress. he popularized the cravat and beautifully tailored, well - fitting men' s fashion, thus creating the progenitor of the modern suit. for a time a royal favorite, brummel' s friendship with the prince of wales was famously destroyed when brummel made a scathing comment about the prince' s weight. almost instantly, brummel' s rank and fortunes plummeted after years of accruing debt for his lavish lifestyle. he died penniless of syphilis in france .
once brummel has fallen from grace, the mirror, once his friend, becomes his enemy. barrymore brought me to tears in one scene where the ravaged, wasted brummel tries to look at his face then turns away, pushing at the glass with his fingers, streaking it in dismay .
george bryan brummel, a british military officer, loves lady margery, the betrothed of lord alvanley. despite her own desperate love for brummel, she submits to family pressure and marries lord alvanley. brummel, broken - hearted, embarks upon a life of revelry. he befriends the prince of wales and leaves the army, becoming subsequently the best - known rake and decider of fashion in europe. as his affairs flourish, so does his disdain for his benefactor, the prince. eventually brummel falls into disfavor, and it is only lady margery who has any chance of helping him .
deciding to climb the social ladder, brummel ingratiates himself with the prince of wales by getting him out of an amorous jam. through his careful cultivation of mannerisms and trends and his blistering wit, “beau” sets himself up as the reigning king bee of the upper crust—but earns as many enemies as friends. eventually, beau grows too big for his breeches and winds up banished by the prince to some frigid outpost in calais, northern france, where he dies in utter penury .
beau brummel is one of those rare films that captures the spark of an off - screen love affair. you can read it in astor’s overly wide eyes and in the tender care with which barrymore’s hands never seem to stop moving, but always seem to nervously long to caress a different part of this splendid creature .
another version of the clyde fitch play was made into a film in 1954. that m - g - m production starred elizabeth taylor and stewart granger and was directed by curtis bernhardt .
: mr. brummel, you are wasting yourself. you have the qualities of a great leader, yet you choose to play the part of court jester .
director harry beaumont takes barrymore' s nickname
the great profile
a little too seriously early in the film, taking every shot of brummel from the side, or having barrymore turn his head during close - ups. this quibble aside, beaumont handles the film quite well. his pacing is very deliberate, and while scenes may go on for awhile, they rarely feel long. there are a few crowd scenes, and again, beaumont handles them well and when coupled with the amazing sets and costumes, the sequences are terrific .
john barrymore is virtually the entire show as 18th - century british fashion plate beau brummel. thanks to his sartorial splendor and quick wit, brummel is a favorite of the prince of wales (willard louis) - - and with several ladies, though his heart belongs to the beautiful, unobtainable lady margery avanley (played by 17 - year - old mary astor, who during filming was carrying on a most passionate affair with her leading man). the arrogant brummel falls from grace after insulting the prince and then refusing to apologize. we last see brummel in an asylum, dressed in rags, but with still enough pride to turn away his true love rather than allow her to throw her life away on him. john barrymore is superb throughout, especially in the poignant sequences after his descent into poverty and disgrace .
still, it would be hard for any version to measure up to the chemistry between mary astor and john barrymore, who were engaged in their own tempestuous romance during the film' s production .
i got beau brummel because i wanted to see mary astor and john barrymore when they were younger…and mary astor is very young. most remembered for her role as brigid o’shaughnessy in the 1941 the maltese falcon and for her mother roles at mgm in movies like meet me in st. louis and little women, she got her start in silent pictures in the early nineteen - twenties when she was fourteen. her breakthrough role was beau brummel. john barrymore had seen a picture of her in a magazine and requested her for his leading lady. he said he was attracted by the caption, which read “on the brink of womanhood. ” she was only seventeen and he was forty - two, but they had a passionate affair during the making of the film, and it shows (which doesn’t always occur – i’ve seen many off - screen couples with zero onscreen chemistry) .
it sounds sappy. i think my dad found it melodramatic because he left one - third of the way through, but truthfully, it is a very moving film. it’s like opera – grand and glorious and beautiful with powerful emotions expressed lyrically. it’s a lyrical movie. you can’t approach it like you would a contemporary film just as you cannot expect an opera to be like a contemporary musical. i like opera, so there’s obviously a little melodramatic streak in me. when i mentioned how sad beau brummel was, most people said, “i guess you won’t want to watch that again, ” but truthfully, i would. i loved it! it’s truly a timeless romance – timeless for the characters and timeless for us .
this news penetrates beau’s senility and he begins to relive his best days with her. cut to margery in her bed. she breathes her last… and her splendid spirit rises from the bed. her double - exposure soul descends into beau’s squalid room just as he expires. and he too emerges from his mortal coil as the idealized officer he once was .
with his bride stolen from him by a cruel class system, brummel decides to use his charm and wit against the society that has interfered with his happiness. he ingratiates himself to the prince of wales (willard louis) who follows brummel' s every fashion cue and shares his taste for womanizing. at his london town house brummel is pursued by ladies and social climbers, but when he falls out of favor with the prince, his troubles mount until his final, sad days in a prison almshouse .
overall, i enjoyed watching it. because it’s a silent film, most people would never take the time to watch it. it was a unique gem that i’m sure i would never have found otherwise !
- i thought barrymore' s acting was quite good in this (okay, yeah there' s a bit of over - the - top eyebrow movement earlier on) - his portrayal in the last part of the film as an aged, senile and penniless old wretch is really something to see! mary astor is very young, very beautiful in this film - like a true silent star, she shows so much emotion simply with her eyes. i also enjoyed the performance of the plump and oafish prince of wales, played by actor willard louis. the storyline is a bit muddled through parts, and i do often wonder why the character of brummel seems so set on ruining his chances for happiness throughout his life simply for revenge (he comes across as rather a bitter jerk, can' t he just get over it and move on? !), but the acting is top - notch, the production qualities excellent, regency period setting and costumes well done. the film as screened on tcm channel featured a good - looking print and very nice original music score by james schafer that accompanies the film well. a good film, well worth seeing - if just to see barrymore at his best .
more years pass and one can only imagine the loneliness and unhappiness that these people have experienced. he is now old, mad and in a debtor’s prison. his servant, mortimer comes to visit and brummel does not initially recognize him. when he does, it is a moment so poignant and pathetic that i dissolved into tears right there and never stopped until some time after the movie ended. in her own home, lady margery dies and her spirit, young once again, sits up and steps out of her body and into brummel’s cell. as mortimer watches in terrible sadness as brummel hallucinates, brummel finally dies. his spirit, also his young and idealized self, rises from his body and joins lady margery .
there is a wonderful artice on the nitrate diva, called “ beau brummel (1924): deeply superficial. ” it is a excellent look at the movie and how superficial things (like clothes and physical beauty and even movies) cannot always be separated from the deeper, spiritual things of life. there is also a bit about john barrymore, what a dandy is, as well as an appreciation of mary astor, along with the story of her real life romance with barrymore. it is a beautifully written article that goes a long way to showing why this movie has such an emotion impact. she writes of that ending when their spirits are united, looking as they did when they were both young :
is that the main character is hard to sympathize, let alone empathize with. his motivation to get back at the aristocracy for denying him margery is actually misguided, for it is very specifically shown that it is margery' s own mother who forces her daughter to marry the rich and noble lord alvanloy. but brummel' s revenge is never directed towards mrs. wertham (clarissa selwynne), whose fate is not shown. that brummel had such ease in gaining access to, and soon influencing the actions of the nobility, shows an ambition that he seemed to lack when courting margery. had he already counted among his friends the prince of wales, perhaps margery' s mother would not have been so dismissive of brummel. but brummel' s rise to action comes too late, and that, coupled with his determined plan for revenge, ultimately leads to his downfall. one might feel pity towards brummel, but little else .
it is the extraordinary acting of john barrymore that brings the deeper shadings of beau brummel to life, allowing us an in, a reason to care for this fatally flawed character. barrymore' s subtle looks, asides, gestures, all help to paint a three - dimensional person, and one that would, in many situations, be fun to hang around with. the sequence where brummel gains prince george' s confidence, by taking the blame for the clandestine meeting with the innkeeper' s wife, is one of many highlights in the film and shows barrymore' s amazing acting ability. barrymore' s brummel orchestrates the entire event, encouraging the prince to meet with the wife, making sure that the innkeeper knows the meeting is taking place, infusing himself into the room and helping the prince to hide (in a closet, in which the prince' s butt is a bit too large for the door to close), and then stepping in as the prince' s surrogate. the sequence is rather long, but builds with a terrific tension and humor and allows us to see, first hand, just how cunning brummel can be. later, when brummel is on the
outs
with the prince, it is quite amusing as the two have a battle of wits with each other, and again, barrymore is just terrific. his chemistry with mary astor also shines through (the two apparently had an affair during the film' s production), but it is the chemistry barrymore has with his servant, mortimer (alec b. francis) that is the one that is eventually heartbreaking .
beau makes an existentialist choice to dedicate his life to achieving brilliant success in a field he knows to be shallow, meretricious and unworthy of his talents... and it turns around and bites him .
if that calais scene doesn’t wet your cheeks, wait until the denoument, which finds beau in a debtor’s hospital as a decrepit, crazy old man. his former servant visits him with the news that margery is dying .
to be a dull, overlong costume drama will be sorely disappointed, for it is in fact, a film rich in plot, performance, atmosphere and subtlety. john barrymore' s acute, nuanced performance anchors the entire stellar production, easily including
the scenes between her and brummel stand out as the best of the film. now, that’s not to say that barrymore doesn’t beguile us pretty much constantly. whether he’s flirting with another man, treating the prince of wales like an inferior acquaintance, or coyly nodding at his jealous fellow officers, he swaggers exquisitely. however, when he encounters the love of his life, then and only then do we perceive the man worthy of all that external beauty .
beau brummel is a historical person and the movie follows his life, though with an added love interest. the movie begins when the wealthy daughter of people in trade, lady margery (astor) is about to marry up in the world. however, her real love is lieutenant brummel. they meet just before the wedding, trading impossibly lovely profiles, and in despair they part. he vows to get revenge on society, the kind of society that would force her to marry where she does not love because he is the son of a tailor. his revenge is a little unusual, however, which is to crash into society, become an accepted member of society and be the beau ideal of how society should look, dress, talk, act…and he succeeds. he becomes the companion of the prince of wales (who would become george iv) and makes quite a few enemies in the process .
main street is a 1923 silent film drama based on the 1920 novel of the same name by sinclair lewis. it was produced and distributed by warner bros. and directed by harry beaumont. a broadway play version of the novel was produced in 1921. [ 1 ]
actors: john barrymore, mary astor, willard louis, carmel myers, irene rich, alec b. francis, genre: drama, run time: 80: 00 final format: dvd - ntsc year: 1924, this disc is formatted for all regions and has css copyright protection (will not play in some laptops), aspect ratio: 4 x 3 full frame, original aspect ratio - 1. 33 audio: stereo - english
as beau tells her, “i am grown old, and changed, and tired of life. ” after she departs, he starts to sob by the door, biting on his own hand to keep her from hearing and coming back to his aid .
harry beaumont, best known for another film about style and appearances, our dancing daughters, directed this poignant tale with panache and an acute eye for stunning compositions and haunting details. in depicting the rise and fall of a fashion arbiter, beaumont uses mirrors as a motif to explore the character’s self - consciousness. the first shot we see of brummel is a shot of him between intertitles, reflected in an oval mirror. in that classical round frame, he resembles the immaculate, still images on 18 th century cameos. this is the image—but the real man is onscreen, too, although you notice him as an afterthought. we understand that appearance means everything to brummel. paradoxically, the most profound desires of his soul express themselves in his drive to be flamboyantly attractive and debonair .
i’m sorry it made nathaniel so sad, though it is a tremendous testament to how moving that film is, despite being silent and in black and white. 🙂 that’s really amazing that he sat through it all. i agree with nathaniel; that moment is really when the tears begin flowing .
“in the filming of the many romantic, delicate love scenes of beau brummel we could stand in each other’s arms, jack in his romantic red and blue hussar uniform and white wig, i in the beautiful empire style dresses, while the camera and lights were being set. we whispered softly, or just stood there, quietly loving the closeness; and no one was the wiser. between scenes, jack had the prop man place two camp chairs together just off the set, and we sat side by side. ”
i loved all of the quaint costumes and mannerisms. a number of scenes were also interesting from a historical perspective (such as the gun duel or how lady margery arrived at beau’s house in a veil). the dialogue was also fun to read. we don’t talk about dandies anymore… 🙂
as the ghostly lady margery and beau embrace, the shimmering schmaltziness of this telepathic love - beyond - life scenario actually works and triggers a surge of weepy fulfillment. the visual pleasure of gazing at such picturesque people, combined with the verisimilitude of the actors’ star - crossed love affair, succeeds at provoking a catharsis. after all, cinema is sort of a dandy; like brummel, this art of surfaces runs surprisingly deep. it can see the veracity and purity of a love that no one else could perceive. and preserve that love for almost 90 years .
as astor noted, “i know jack loved me. i know it as surely as i know the fact of my own existence. fifteen years afterwards he was talking to me about it, telling me how surprised he had been to find himself beginning to love me that first day on the beau brummel set. even then, fifteen years later, he didn’t dismiss it lightly. ‘it s a good thing i wasn’t free to marry, ” he said then. ‘and it’s a good thing i couldn’t get you away from your family. i would have married you, and you would have had a miserable life. ’”
during filming, john barrymore and willard louis would replace their scripted dialogue with dirty jokes and foul language thinking no one would notice in a silent film. however, this was a time when deaf people could comfortably go to the movies and many of them were quite adept at reading lips. as a result, the studio received thousands of letters of complaint .
the last time i watched this, it was a shitty overexposed copy with random ill - fitting classical music slapped on, and silly me wrote this off as a middling barrymore silent film (there isn' t even a sword fight !). but with a proper score (that glockenspiel in the love scenes oh my god) this movie really shines .
the moments where john barrymore looks in the mirror are wonderful – i think early on there is a scene where he looks and is delighted by what he sees, then later on the poignant scene you mention which moved you to tears. i really like the way you have woven the story of his real relationship with mary astor in with your account of the film .
references: baer - film p. 20; everson - american p. 269; higashi - virgins p. 81; kerr - silent p. 31; lahue - gentlemen pp. 17, 18; limbacher - feature p. 18; sweeney - coming pp. 63, 74: clasim - 221 p. 53; clasim - 302 pp. 6, 12: website - imdb .
mary astor, even in her teenage years, possessed a striking aura of grief and maturity. for instance, after beau leaves for france, she clings to the door he just exited through, almost squashed against it like a broken butterfly. seen from behind and in a long shot, she communicates a universe of pain merely by wiggling her arms despondently .
i did cry at the end. what surprised me, though, was nathaniel. when we started the movie, he was completely bored out of his skull (what, no sound or color? ! the horror! d :). but when beau was in prison and mortimer came to visit him, nathaniel started bawling. he kept crying even after the movie was over .
the entire cast is just terrific and leading the pack is willard louis as prince george. while never quite a buffoon, louis allows a fair amount of comedy to happen at the prince' s expense. but in each case, louis maintains an air of authority, never allowing george to be anything other than the heir to the thrown. mary astor' s role is relatively short, but she certainly holds up her end of the romance and her finest sequence is her reunion with brummel, as he sits in his hovel, refusing her proposal. carmel myers' lady hester is pure heat in her scenes with barrymore. devilishly sexy when she wants brummel, and just plain devilish when she' s cast aside, myers' hester leaves an indelible impression as a woman who will seek her own revenge .
i don’t know why, but sentimentality often gets a bad rap or is considered unsophisticated. sound of music is often labeled sugary and sentimental and excessively positive for being a musical made in the ’60s (as if the fact that it was made in the ’60s is the problem). beau brummel is likewise sentimental, though less happy. mary poppins is called sentimental. stella dallas, with barbara stanwyck, made me cry and is blatantly melodramatic and moving. the amazing spider - man 2, which wasn’t especially amazing, still had me crying hard at the end. movies most likely to elicit an emotional response are these kinds of movies. i’ve talked to other people and they tell me it’s the same with them. it’s often the cheesy stuff that is most poignant. somehow, these films touch on something fundamental within us, something in our souls, something universal .
cast: john barrymore [ gordon byron ‘beau’ brummel ], mary astor [ lady margery alvanley ], willard louis [ prince of wales ], carmel myers [ lady hester stanhope ], irene rich [ frederica charlotte, the duchess of york ], alec b. francis [ mortimer ], william humphreys [ lord alvanley ], richard tucker [ lord stanhope ], andré beranger [ lord byron ], clarissa selwynne [ mrs. wertham ], john j. richardson [ poodles byng ], claire de lorez [ lady manly ], michael dark [ lord manly ], templar saxe [ desmond wertham ], james a. marcus [ snodgrass, the innkeeper ], betty brice [ mrs. snodgrass ], roland rushton [ mr. abrahams ], carol holloway [ kathleen, a maid ], kate lester [ lady miora ], rose dione [ madame bergere ], c. h. chaldecotte [ timothy ], f. f. guenste [ parkyns, prince of wales’ valet ], [? ] gustav von seyffertitz ?
when lady margery visits him in calais, her youth still shines while beau, ground down by poverty, has aged horribly. he’s crouched by the fire, gnawing on a piece of bread when she comes in. as she stands in the doorway, the awkward stillness of the shot - reverse - shot exchanges tear at our heartstrings. finally, she enters, informs him that her husband is dead, and, in an unusual inversion of the movie proposal scene, asks him to marry her. do i smell a happy ending after all ?
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. but she already had six feature films and many two - reelers under her belt. she had worked with richard barthelmess, dorothy gish and william powell but was as yet to meet a presence as memorable and as influential in her young life as barrymore .
, astor recalled being
sick with anxiety and nervousness in anticipation of being in the presence of this great man .
upon meeting astor, barrymore noted her parental domination and pulled her away from the radius of her overbearing stage mother. over time barrymore would expertly charm astor' s parents in order to spend time with the daughter whose career and life they managed with particular avidity .
recalled astor ,
in the next three years he would teach me that i was a person, that i was somebody in my own right and not just [ a ]' goddamn trained seal.'
while they embraced so that their on - camera chemistry could be measured during that first meeting and screen test, barrymore whispered, as the legend goes ,
you are so goddamned beautiful, you make me feel faint .
astor noted upon their first meeting that in real life there was undoubtedly no lady margery alvanley, and barrymore cracked ,
i doubt it. but this is the moo - vies. and there
in her autobiography astor remembered being treated wonderfully, as a true star on the warner bros. set. she also recalled the hijinks of some of her co - stars .
willard louis as the prince of wales and mr. barrymore made bawdy jokes during their scenes (it was a silent picture, remember), only occasionally using the lines from the clyde fitch play from which the picture was adapted. after the picture was released the following year, there was a great deal of mail from the deaf who were able to read lips: they were very shocked .
barrymore was 42 when he embarked upon his whirlwind romance with the teenage astor .
the world was a lovely place that seventeenth summer of my life ,
she said .
it never again would be so romantic, so storybook beautiful, or quite so romantically tragic .
review from the time called barrymore' s
one of the finest performances of his screen career .
tcm celebrates the 100th anniversary of a musical legend with three nights of programming devoted to some of leonard bernstein' s... more
leonard maltin classic movie guide, copyright 2005, 2010. used by arrangement with penguin group (usa) inc .
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behind office doors (31)... good print... no ads... pre - code... astor, cortez, ames, dir m. brown
strange impersonation
brenda marshall, william gargan, hillary brooke. 3 - 15 - 1946 .
they met in the dark (1943) 6. 3 / 10 - full movie - james mason, joyce howard, tom walls
i cried and cried and cried. it was embarrassing. i didn’t look at my sister, but i could feel that she was crying, too. when the movie ended, we looked at each other to see how the other was affected. she had tears streaming down her face and i had tears streaming down my face. we laughed, smiled and finished our cry .
i never used to be a particularly sentimental person, but after our mother passed away some years ago, we turned into the most sentimental, sappy, mushy, cry - at - the - drop - of - a - hat people you can imagine. and it is always the sappy movies that affects us the most. we never know kind of movie or book is going to touch us, i’m sometimes surprised: a movie might have tons of people die, but i won’t be affected, and then i’ll watching something else and turn into a basket case .
john barrymore began as a stage actor – known for his hamlet – and did several movies, but made his first cinematic impact in 1920 in dr. jekyll and mr. hyde, which is a surprisingly effective horror / drama. i’d heard people mention his profile a lot, it was practically a joke, but i had only seen in him midnight (1939 and also with mary astor), when he was older and physically suffering the effects of alcoholism. but i now know what they mean. it is a lovely profile. he is more handsome from the side than face forward and he looks years younger .
the story spirals tragically from here (though it starts out pretty tragic). he manages to offend the prince, among other people, and must go into exile in france. there is another tragic parting between him and lady margery. this time, she asks him take to her with him, but he refuses, presumably for the same reason he didn’t run off with her in the beginning…his lack of fortune .
he lives in abject poverty and ages badly and the only person who has stood by him is his devoted servant, mortimer. when the prince of wales (now the king) arrives in france with a huge entourage – that includes lady margery – he watches, a broken man, as the procession goes by. lady margery later visits him, telling him that her husband has died and asks him to marry her. once again he refuses. this times it’s because he’s broken, he no longer has the heart to be with her, he’s so beaten down by life that he feels he has nothing to give anymore and there is another one of those tear - inducing partings. it’s truly painful .
“ why is it that our celluloid souls are supposed to look like ourselves—but in the prime of life, at our youthful pinnacle? are we being superficial? or perhaps we associate that beauty with hope and with the time in our existence when we still aspired to something. it probably goes back to the middle ages, when funerary statues were made to resemble the departed individual at the age of 33, since that was considered the “perfect age, ” the age at which christ had died. so, once again, we see that it’s not so easy to separate the superficial from the spiritual, the corporal from the ethereal. ”
of course, one can’t live in a highly emotional state all the time, however cathartic it might be to cry sometimes. so my sister and i decided the next day to watch something unrelentingly upbeat and happy in meet me in st. louis. another sentimental movie, but happily so and it left us singing .
first off, you’re totally right–we all agreed that john barrymore looks waaaaay more handsome from the side than the front .
i’m so glad you enjoyed it and really excited you had a chance to see it! i write about so many movies, i never know if people are really interested in seeing them .
i didn’t think about the veil, but you are right…and dandies. in modern historical movies it seems a fashion to have girls running around without hats and men with their shirts romantically open as if they don’t care what they wear (did you ever see the 2005 pride and prejudice? it’s historically awful !) .
it’s such a different time and it felt like they captured it better than i’ve seen in most movies today. it is pretty mannered (john barrymore was noted for a more emotive and grand acting style than some other silent actors), but i think that’s what adds to the sentiment of it, as if their emotions are so great they have to express them grandly .
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movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
note the incredible range of emotions - - love, sadness, joy, hate, amusement, disdain, hurt - - barrymore is capable of conveying, and with what economy he does it .
this romantic drama is pretty standard for tragic romance, but the actors are really good. overall, it' s just okay, there' s nothing really great about it .
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, an abstraction substantialized only by the scissors, a concentrated essence of frivolity, infinitely sensitive to his own indulgence, chill as the poles to the indulgences of others; prodigal to his own appetites, never suffering a shilling to escape for the behoof of others; magnanimously mean, ridiculously wise, and contemptibly clever .
superficiality gets a bad rap. after all, what does that much - maligned word denote, in its essence? it means an emphasis on the surface, on that which is readily apparent. now, i will never condone an obsession with exterior beauty that dismisses any interior value; however, i cannot help but detect something heroic about the desire to project a surface of agonizing perfection. appearance - consciousness rises to the level of greatness—and dare i say art? —when it demands extreme discipline and taste on the part the person who takes up the heavy burden of being an exalted human spectacle .
the dandy as a cultural and literary concept resists a simple definition. it depends on whom you’re talking to, but i like nigel rodgers’s recent definition of “the perennial dandy principles: independence, elegance, courtesy, wit. ” on a more philosophical level, the love of my life charles baudelaire likened the dandy to the stoic of antiquity because the dandy wears a mask of whimsy and nonchalance even when in the throes of pain or misfortune or when sullied by the teeming mediocrity of the commercial world around him. his beauty is not vulgar because it cannot be bought merely with money (although it helps, all dandies agree); that beauty reflects his originality, his ability to style and reimagine himself.
beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor . the film was directed by harry beaumont and based upon clyde fitch 's 1890 play , which had been performed by richard mansfield , and depicts the life of the british regency dandy beau brummell . several years after barrymore 's death , his daughter diana barrymore was shown a special screening of this film as she had never seen her father in any of his silent films . in 1952 , the film entered the public domain in the united states due to the failure of warner bros. to renew the copyright in the 28th year after registration . 
beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor. the film was directed by harry beaumont and based upon clyde fitch's 1890 play, which had been performed by richard mansfield, and depicts the life of the british regency dandy beau brummell. several years after barrymore's death, his daughter diana barrymore was shown a special screening of this film as she had never seen her father in any of his silent films. in 1952, the film entered the public domain in the united states due to the failure of warner bros. to renew the copyright in the 28th year after registration.
beau brummel is a 1924 american silent film historical drama starring john barrymore and mary astor. the film was directed by harry beaumont and based upon clyde fitch's 1890 play, which had been performed by richard mansfield, and depicts the life of the british regency dandy beau brummell. several years after barrymore's death, his daughter diana barrymore was shown a special screening of this film as she had never seen her father in any of his silent films. in 1952, the film entered the public domain in the united states due to the failure of warner bros. to renew the copyright in the 28th year after registration.