''Bella Donna'' is a 1923 American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

produced by

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...

and released 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 ...

. The film is based on the 1909 novel, '' Bella Donna'', by Robert Smythe Hichens which was later adapted for a 1912 Broadway play starring

Alla Nazimova Alla Nazimova (Russian: Алла Назимова; born Marem-Ides Leventon, Russian: Марем-Идес Левентон; June 3 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_22.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O ...

. This film is also a remake of the 1915 Paramount film '' Bella Donna'' starring

Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...

. The 1923 film was directed by

George Fitzmaurice George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and producer. Career Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914, and continuing until his death in 1940, he directed ...

and starred

Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Apolonia Chalupec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femm ...

in her first American film.

Plot

Bella Donna, a seductive woman snares Nigel Armine into marriage and he takes her to Egypt to live. Tired of her simple husband, Bella becomes involved with brutish Baroudi.

Cast

as Bella Donna *

Conway Tearle Conway Tearle (born Frederick Conway Levy, May 17, 1878 – October 1, 1938) was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films. Early life Tearle was born on May 17, 1878, in New York City, the son of the ...

as Mahmoud Baroudi *

Conrad Nagel John Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970) was an American film, stage, television and radio actor. He was considered a famous matinée idol and leading man of the 1920s and 1930s. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 1940 and ...

as Nigel Armine *

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...

as Mr. Chepstow *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, " Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish sou ...

as Doctor Meyer Isaacson * Lois Wilson as Patricia *

Antonio Corsi Antonio Corsi (Florence, 1630 – Florence, 1679) was a noble Italian, first Count of Montepescali and Third Marquis of Caiazzo, son of the Marquis Giovanni Corsi and the Patrizia of Firenze Lucrezia Salviati, brother of Domenico Maria Corsi. ...

as Fortune Teller *

Macey Harlam Macey Harlam (April 27, 1873 – June 17, 1923) was a stage and screen actor from New York. He performed on Broadway from 1901 to 1918 before switching to silent films. In films he appeared with Pauline Frederick, Douglas Fairbanks, Elsie Fergu ...

as Ibrahim *

Robert Schable Robert Schable (August 31, 1873 – July 7, 1947) was an American stage and screen actor as well as a stage manager from Hamilton, Ohio. Biography A longtime stage player from the Charles Frohman company since the 1890s, Schable began in silent ...

as Doctor Hartley

Song

"Bella Donna (Beautiful Lady)" by

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

, Arthur M. Brilant (words) and Ted Snyder.

Phonofilm version

Reportedly the film played with sound provided by the De Forest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film proce ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

process. This was probably music and sound effects but no dialogue, and was only at the April 1, 1923 premiere at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. Paramount also premiered ''

The Covered Wagon ''The Covered Wagon'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze based on a 1922 novel of the same name by Emerson Hough about a group of pioneers tr ...

'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on March 16, 1923. All or about two reels of ''The Covered Wagon'' had a music track recorded in the Phonofilm process, but was only shown this way at the premiere at the Rivoli Theater in New York City. On April 15, 1923,

Lee de Forest Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor and a fundamentally important early pioneer in electronics. He invented the first electronic device for controlling current flow; the three-element " Audion" triode v ...

presented a program of 18

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s made in the Phonofilm process, also at the Rivoli Theater.

Preservation status

A print is reportedly held at the

Gosfilmofond Gosfilmofond is a state film archive in Russia. It is the main film archive of the Russian Federation and a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). It is a state cultural institution — curator of films collection and oth ...

Archive in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

.The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''Bella Donna''
/ref>

References

External links

*

at silentera.com *
''Bella Donna''
at Virtual History
Sheet music cover with tie-in to movie poster for ''Bella Donna''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bella Donna 1923 films American silent feature films Films based on British novels Films directed by George Fitzmaurice Remakes of American films Famous Players-Lasky films Transitional sound films Films set in Egypt Films set in the 1890s Films set in the 1900s American black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Ouida Bergère 1920s English-language films 1920s American films