''Madame Du Barry'' or ''Du Barry'' is a 1917 American
silent historical drama film
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
directed by
J. Gordon Edwards
James Gordon Edwards (June 24, 1867 – December 31, 1925) was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and writer who began his career as a stage (theatre), stage actor and stage director.
Biography
James Gordon Edwards was born in Montreal ...
and starring
Theda Bara
Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress.
Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...
. The film is based on the French novel ''Memoirs d’un médecin'' by
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
.
Plot
As described in a
film magazine
Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...
, Madame Jeanne Du Barry (Bara) becomes the reigning favorite of Louis XV (Clary) and enjoys this distinction until the sudden death of the king. The lavish mode of living by the king and Jeanne Du Barry arouse the wrath of the peasant class, and after the death of the king a revolution breaks out. Jeanne is made to suffer through the revolution and pays the ultimate price on the
guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...
.
Cast
*
Theda Bara
Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress.
Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...
as
Madame Du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being ...
*
Charles Clary
Charles Clary (March 24, 1873 – March 24, 1931) was an American actor of the silent film era. Clary appeared in more than 200 films between 1910 and 1930. He was born in Charleston, Illinois and died on his 58th birthday in Los Angeles, Ca ...
as
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
*
Fred Church as Cossé-Brissac
*
Herschel Mayall
Herschel Mayall (July 12, 1863 – June 10, 1941) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1912 and 1935.
Biography
He was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and died in Detroit, Mic ...
as Jean DuBarry
*
Genevieve Blinn
Genevieve Blinn (born Genevieve Clothilde Nannery; June 12, 1874 – July 20, 1956) was a Canadian actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood silent motion pictures. She was a native of New Brunswick, Canada.
Family
Genevieve Nannery was t ...
as Duchess deGaumont
*
Willard Louis
Willard Louis (April 19, 1882 – July 22, 1926) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in San Francisco, California.
Louis had an art studio before he be ...
as Guillaume DuBarry
*
Hector Sarno
Hector V. Sarno (April 24,1880 – December 16, 1953) was an American film actor who began in the silent era. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1912 and 1948. He was born in Naples, Italy and died in Pasadena, California.
Partial f ...
as Lebel
* Dorothy Drake as Henriette
*
Rosita Marstini
Rosita Marstini (September 19, 1887 – April 24, 1948) was a French dancer, stage personality, and silent and sound film actress from Nancy, France.
Early life
Rosita Marstini was born on September 19, 1887, in Nancy, France. She marrie ...
as Mother Savord
*
Joe King
Reception
Like many American films of the time, ''Madame Du Barry'' was subject to cuts by
city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of Madame Du Barry lying on the guillotine and the closeup of the blade.
Preservation status
This film is now considered to be a
lost film
A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress.
Conditions
During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...
. Many of Theda Bara's films were destroyed in the
1937 Fox Studios vault fire.
See also
*
List of lost films
For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films.
Reas ...
*
1937 Fox vault fire
The 1937 Fox vault fire was a major fire that broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film-storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States, on July 9, 1937. Flammable nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film-industr ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madame Du Barry (Film)
1917 films
1917 drama films
1910s historical drama films
Fox Film films
American historical drama films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
Films based on French novels
Films based on works by Alexandre Dumas
Films directed by J. Gordon Edwards
Films set in France
Films set in the 1770s
Lost American films
Cultural depictions of Louis XV
Cultural depictions of Madame du Barry
Works about Louis XV
1910s American films
Silent American drama films
1910s English-language films