Call of the Flesh
| Call of the Flesh | |
|---|---|
Film still
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| Directed by | Charles Brabin |
| Written by |
John Colton Dorothy Farnum |
| Starring | Ramon Novarro |
| Cinematography | Merritt B. Gerstad |
| Edited by | Conrad A. Nervig |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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August 16, 1930 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Movietone |
Call of the Flesh is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Charles Brabin. The film stars Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, and Renée Adorée. It featured several songs performed by Novarro and originally included a sequence photographed in Technicolor.
Filming of Call of the Flesh began on January 27, 1930 under the working title The Singer of Seville, and lasted through March. It was shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City. Before the premiere, the title was changed to Call of the Flesh because the original title made it sound too much like a musical. Ramon Novarro apparently hated the new title.
This film marked Novarro's fourth film appearance with Renée Adorée, and his third with Dorothy Jordan. Charles Brabin had been the original director on Novarro's Ben-Hur before Brabin had been fired from that project; however, the firing had taken place before Novarro's hiring, and the two had thus not worked together on that film. Novarro would later claim that he, not Brabin, actually directed most of Call of the Flesh.
Novarro insisted that Renée Adorée be cast in the film opposite him, despite the fact that she was extremely ill with tuberculosis. and the actress suffered two hemorrhages during production which almost shut the project down. In one instance, Novarro tried to convince production supervisor Hunt Stromberg to relieve Adorée of her duties and reshoot her material with another actress, offering to waive his salary, but Stromberg insisted, against doctor's orders, that it would be too expensive. After completing her last scene, Adorée had a second hemorrhage again and lost consciousness; she was rushed to a sanitarium in La Crescenta. Though Adorée survived two more years, her health effectively ended her chances at a continued career. Call of the Flesh was her last film.
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