El Dorado (1921 film)
| El Dorado | |
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Cover for DVD of El Dorado (1921)
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| Directed by | Marcel L'Herbier |
| Produced by | Gaumont Série Pax |
| Written by | Marcel L'Herbier |
| Starring |
Ève Francis Jaque Catelain Philippe Hériat Marcelle Pradot |
| Music by | Marius-François Gaillard |
| Cinematography |
Georges Lucas Georges Specht |
| Distributed by | Gaumont |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language |
Silent film French intertitles |
| Budget | FF 400,000 |
El Dorado is a French silent film directed in 1921 by Marcel L'Herbier. The film was notable for integrating a number of technical innovations into its narrative of a "cinematic melodrama". It achieved considerable success on its release, as a ground-breaking film that was distinctively French at a time when the cinema was felt to be dominated by American productions.
In his previous five films Marcel L'Herbier had explored a variety of photographic and narrative techniques in the fast-developing medium of film, and in 1921 he wanted to draw them together in the context of a story which would have a broad appeal for the public. He was also eager to film in the landscapes of Spain which had long been an inspiration for him, especially as filtered through the writings of Maurice Barrès. He submitted an original scenario for a melodrama called El Dorado, set in Andalusia, to his producer Léon Gaumont, and rather to his surprise it was immediately accepted. L'Herbier was adamant that the film should carry the subtitle "mélodrame", both to indicate the popular origins of its story, but also to point to its more traditional sense of the combination of drama and music. He was less candid about his intentions for incorporating imaginative and unconventional visual effects into his familiar subject-matter.
An initial budget of 92,000 francs was allocated, but in the end the film cost nearly 400,000 francs.
In Granada in Spain, Sibilla works as a dancer in a squalid cabaret called El Dorado, struggling to earn enough to care for her sick child. The boy's father Estoria, a prominent citizen, refuses them both help and recognition, fearful of jeopardising the engagement of his adult daughter Iliana to a wealthy nobleman. Iliana however slips away from her engagement party to meet her real lover Hedwick, a Swedish painter. Sibilla, in desperation after a further rejection by Estoria, sees an opportunity to blackmail him by locking the lovers overnight in their meeting-place in the Alhambra. When Hedwick learns the truth next day, he and Iliana decide to take refuge at his mother's remote house on the Sierra Nevada, and they propose to Sibilla that they should take her son (Iliana's half-brother) with them so that he can be properly cared for in a healthy climate. Sibilla reluctantly agrees, but she is distraught as she returns to her empty room at El Dorado where she even has to fight off Joao, the cabaret's clown, as he tries to rape her. Knowing that she will not see her son again, she performs a last dance on stage to rapturous applause before going backstage to stab herself.
Ève Francis as Sibilla
Jaque Catelain as the young painter Hedwick
Marcelle Pradot as Hedwick's lover Iliana
Philippe Hériat as the lecherous clown Joao
Georges Paulais as Estiria, the father of Sibilla's son
Claire Prélia as the Swedish mother of Hedwick
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Wikipedia