''Monsieur Beaucaire'' is a 1924 American silent

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

historical drama film starring

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

in the title role, Bebe Daniels, and Lois Wilson. Produced and directed by Sidney Olcott, the film is based on Booth Tarkington's 1900 novel of the same name and the 1904 play of the same name by Tarkington and Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland.

Plot

The Duke of

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.

Cast

Production notes

''Monsieur Beaucaire'' was produced by Famous Players-Lasky, directed by Sidney Olcott, and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. It was filmed at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City. For this film, whose action is set at the court of King Louis XV of France, the atmosphere is resolutely French and French-speaking. It is French dancer

Paulette Duval Paulette Duval (1889 – 1951) was a French dancer and actress of the silent film era and early sound motion pictures. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1889 and raised in France. She was considered one of the most beautiful women ...

's second American picture; the Belgian

André Daven André Daven (1900–1981) was a French film producer, actor and director. In the mid-1920s he was the artistic director of the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris when Josephine Baker was hired to appear there.Nichols p.123 During the German oc ...

, playing the brother of Valentino's character, was hired for his resemblance to the Latin lover; the

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

-based

Georges Barbier George Barbier (), né Georges Augustin Barbier, (1882–1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Biography Born in Nantes, France on 16 October 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhib ...

designed the 350 costumes. The film's dialogues were written in French for more realism. Valentino speaks French, as do Bebe Daniels, Lowell Sherman and Sidney Olcott.

Reception

''Monsieur Beaucaire'' was part of a series of box office and critical disappointments that plagued Valentino mid-career. Although the film did fairly well in big cities, it flopped in smaller locales, and could not exceed the expensive budget Olcott put into the film's production. Historians Kevin Brownlow and

John Kobal John Kobal (born Iwan Kobal; 30 May 1940 – 28 October 1991)Kobal's biography page
, John Kobal Fou ...

suggested that the film's shortcomings stemmed more from Olcott's "pedestrian" direction. Many viewers and critics, perhaps expecting the more virile Valentino of his earlier films, felt that his onscreen persona with its heavy makeup, frilled attire, and arch mannerisms (particularly in the first half) was overly feminized in ''Monsieur Beaucaire'': a somewhat unfair accusation, considering that much of the film satirizes the excesses of the court of Louis XV. Much of the blame for the film's alleged shortcomings was assigned to Valentino's wife Natacha Rambova who was felt by many of Valentino's colleagues to have had an undue influence on the costumes, set and direction of the film. Alicia Annas wrote that audiences were most likely alienated by the general design of the film which, while historically accurate, was not tailored to 1920s American filmgoers' tastes. The

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...

parody '' Monsieur Don't Care'' (1924) reflected the general public attitude toward ''Monsieur Beaucaire''.

Adaptations

The novel ''Monsieur Beaucaire'' was adapted into a musical film, '' Monte Carlo'' (1930), directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The story was filmed again as a comedy, directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Joan Caulfield, also called '' Monsieur Beaucaire'' (1946). The 1951 biopic '' Valentino'', produced by Columbia Pictures, directed by Lewis Allen with Anthony Dexter, includes a sequence dedicated to ''Monsieur Beaucaire''. A long sequence dedicated to ''Monsieur Beaucaire'' appears in the 1977 film '' Valentino'' (1977), directed by

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

, with Rudolf Nureyev in the title role and

John Justin John Justin (24 November 1917 – 29 November 2002) was a British stage and film actor. Early life John Justinian de Ledesma was born in Knightsbridge, London, England, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Though he grew up on his father' ...

in the role of Sidney Olcott.

References

External links

* *
''Monsieur Beaucaire''
web site dedicated to Sidney Olcott

at silenthollywood.com * {{Authority control 1924 films 1924 romantic drama films 1920s historical romance films American black-and-white films American romantic drama films American silent feature films Famous Players-Lasky films Films based on works by Booth Tarkington Films directed by Sidney Olcott Films set in England Films set in France Films set in the 18th century Films shot in New York City Cultural depictions of Louis XV Cultural depictions of Madame de Pompadour American historical romance films Films shot at Astoria Studios Surviving American silent films 1920s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent American drama films 1920s English-language films