''Decameron Nights'' is a 1924 British-German silent
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director.
He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...
and starring
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
,
Ivy Duke
Ivy Duke (9 June 1896, Kensington, London – 8 November 1937, London) was a British actress.Ivy Duke . bfi.org.uk S ...
and
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...
. It is based on the novel ''
Decameron
''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...
'' by
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...
.
Cast
*
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
as Saladin
*
Ivy Duke
Ivy Duke (9 June 1896, Kensington, London – 8 November 1937, London) was a British actress.Ivy Duke . bfi.org.uk S ...
as Perdita
*
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...
as Soldan
*
Bernhard Goetzke
Bernhard Goetzke (5 June 1884 – 7 October 1964) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961.
Selected filmography
* ''Fear'' (1917)
* ''The Last Sun Son'' (1919)
* ''The Japanese Woman'' (1919)
* ''The P ...
as Torello
*
Randle Ayrton
Frederick Randle Ayrton (9 August 1869 – 28 May 1940) was a British actor of stage and screen, and was also a producer and director.
Early life
Ayrton was born in Chester to William Frances Ayrton, a wealthy wine-merchant who was a p ...
as Ricciardo
*
Xenia Desni
Xenia Desni ( Ukrainian: Ксенія Десні; 19 January 1894 – 27 May 1962) was a Ukrainian silent screen era actress who predominantly appeared in German films.
Early life
Densi was born Ksenia Desnytska in Kyiv, Ukraine. She and her fam ...
as Lady Teodora
*
Jameson Thomas
Jameson Thomas (born Thomas Roland Jameson; 24 March 1888 – 10 January 1939) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1923 and 1939.
He was born in St George Hanover Square, London. On the stage from his earl ...
as Imliff
*
Hanna Ralph
Hanna Ralph (born Johanna Antonia Adelheid Günther; 25 September 1888 – 25 March 1978) was a German stage and film actress whose career began on the stage and in silent film in the 1910s and continued through the early 1950s.
Career
Hanna Ra ...
as Lady Violante
*
Albert Steinrück
Albert Steinrück (20 May 1872 – 10 February 1929) was a German stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1910 and 1929. He starred in the 1923 film '' The Treasure'', which was directed by Georg Wil ...
as King Algarve
Production
Herbert Wilcox had previously made ''Chu Chin Chow'' in Germany with
Eric Pommer
Erich Pommer (20 July 1889 – 8 May 1966) was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s.
As producer, Erich Pommer was involved ...
. Pommer invited Wilcox back to make another film. UFA would provide the story, screenplay and cast plus 50% of the finance. Wilcox would produce and direct, bring in American and British stars and 50% of the finance. Wilcox signed Ivy Duke from Britain and Lionel Barrymore from the US. They arrived in Berlin a few days before filming was to start. Wilcox loved the sets and the story but felt the script "stank to high heaven". Wilcox would only proceed if they could move forward without a script and write scenes from day to day.
Critical reception
Wilcox later wrote that "I got through the film on schedule, and whatever faults could be found with ''Decameron Nights'' they were not in the screenplay or continuity. The critical acclaim was extraordinary and in my view out of proportion to the merits of the film."
In ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Mordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.
See also
*
Lionel Barrymore filmography
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; 1878–1954) was an American actor of stage, screen, and radio. He also directed several films, wrote scripts, created etchings, sketches, and composed music. He was the eldest child of the actors Mauri ...
References
*Wilcox, Herbert, ''Twenty Five Thousand Sunsets'', 1967