Kismet (1930 film)
| Kismet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | John Francis Dillon |
| Produced by | Robert North |
| Written by |
Howard Estabrook Edward Knoblock (play) |
| Starring |
Otis Skinner Loretta Young David Manners Sidney Blackmer |
| Music by |
Leon Rosebrook Edward Ward |
| Cinematography | John F. Seitz |
| Edited by | Alexander Hall |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
|
Release date
|
October 30, 1930 |
|
Running time
|
90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $600,000 |
Kismet is a 1930 American pre-Code costume drama film photographed entirely in an early widescreen process using 65mm film that Warner Bros. called Vitascope. The film, now considered lost, was based on Edward Knoblock's play Kismet, and was previously filmed as a silent film in 1920 which also starred Otis Skinner.
Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.
Warner Bros. spared no expense in making this picture. They spent $600,000 in producing it and the extravagance of the film was noted by every reviewer. The film played in ten cities across the United States in the wide-screen Vitascope (65mm) version while the rest of the country (which did not yet have theaters capable of playing widescreen films) were provided with standard 35mm prints.
The enormous amount of Pre-Code content (especially in the sequences in the harem) probably contributed to the film's loss.
Two remakes, both in color, were made of the film, one in 1944 and the other in 1955. The 1955 version was an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical based on the play. Some sources claim that the original 1930 film featured Technicolor sequences. The film is considered lost, while the complete soundtrack of the film survives on Vitaphone disks.
One Foreign Language Version of the 1930 version of Kismet was made. The German version, also titled Kismet, was directed by William Dieterle, and was released in 1931.
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