Don Juan (1926 film)
| Don Juan | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alan Crosland |
| Written by |
Walter Anthony (intertitles) Maude Fulton (intertitles) Victor Vance (art titles) |
| Screenplay by | Bess Meredyth |
| Based on |
Don Juan by Lord Byron |
| Starring | John Barrymore |
| Music by |
William Axt David Mendoza |
| Cinematography | Byron Haskin |
| Edited by | Harold McCord |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
| Budget | $789,963 |
| Box office | $1,258,000 |
Don Juan is a 1926 American romantic Adventure film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length film to utilize the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue. The film is inspired by Lord Byron's 1821 epic poem of the same name. The screenplay was written by Bess Meredyth with intertitles by Maude Fulton and Walter Anthony.
Don Juan stars John Barrymore as the hand-kissing womanizer. The film has the most kisses in film history, with Barrymore kissing (all together) Mary Astor and Estelle Taylor 127 times.
In the prologue, Don José, warned of his wife's infidelity, seals his wife's lover alive in his hiding place and drives her from the castle; abandoned to his lust, he is stabbed by his last mistress, and with his dying words he implores his son, Don Juan, to take all from women but yield nothing. Ten years later, young Don Juan, a graduate of the University of Pisa, is famous as a lover and pursued by many women, including the powerful Lucrezia Borgia, who invites him to her ball. His contempt for her incites her hatred of Adriana, the daughter of the Duke Della Varnese, with whom he is enraptured; and Lucrezia plots to marry her to Count Giano Donati, one of the Borgia henchmen, and poison the duke. Don Juan intervenes and thwarts the scheme, winning the love of Adriana, but the Borgia declare war on the duke's kinsmen, offering them safety if Adriana marries Donati; Don Juan is summoned to the wedding, but he prefers death to marriage with Lucrezia. He escapes and kills Donati in a duel. The lovers are led to the death-tower, but while Adriana pretends suicide, he escapes; and following a series of battles, he defeats his pursuers and is united with Adriana.
Don Juan premiered August 6, 1926, at the Warners' Theatre in New York City, New York.
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