Don Juan (1926)

Director: Alan Crosland                               Writer: Bess Meredyth
Film Score: William Axt                              Cinematography: Byron Haskin
Starring: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Warner Oland and Myrna Loy

Before The Jazz Singer changed everything, film companies were already experimenting with synchronized sound. Though it is a “silent” picture, Don Juan is traditionally considered the first film with a pre-recorded, synchronized soundtrack of music and sound effects. Along with John Gilbert and Douglas Fairbanks, the great John Barrymore is one of the triumvirate of successful leading men in the silent era. The tale of the great womanizer begins with Don Juan as a child. Barrymore plays his father as well in these scenes. Don Jose is leaving to take taxes to the king, and says goodbye to his wife. But as soon as he is gone her lover sneaks into the castle. A small, troll-like servant, however, alerts Jose before he has gone too far and he returns. With the lover hiding behind a partially finished wall, Jose calls in his men and they wall him in alive, similar to an old D.W. Griffith short called The Sealed Room from 1909.

After his father banishes his mother, the young Juan learns to use and abuse women from his father. The bulk of the story takes place in Rome when the Borgias were in power. Unlike the serious dramatic tone of the prologue, the first scenes with Barrymore juggling three women are rather humorous. Williard Louis does a nice job as Barrymore’s secretary, though he is a bit effeminate. Estelle Taylor, as Lucrezia, has heard the rumors that Barrymore gives his love to no woman and she takes it as a challenge to see if she can be the one he never leaves. Meanwhile the clan decide to poison a count, Josef Swickard, so that one of the Borgias can marry his daughter, Mary Astor, and take over her father’s estates. But when Barrymore sees her he falls in love and pursues her, with predicable results when Taylor and the rest of the Borgias find out.

The great Warner Oland plays the head of the Borgia family, and the fabulous Myrna Loy plays Taylor’s lady in waiting. Barrymore isn’t quite as animated as Gilbert or Fairbanks, but that’s probably for the better, especially since the first two have a tendency to overplay in comedic situations. He does love his profile, though. At the end, he uses the skills he demonstrated on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to transform his face as he impersonates the evil alchemist Neri, who makes all of the famous Borgia poison. Certainly not a classic, and definitely an average story, the direction is good and the use of the camera by Alan Crosland is very inventive and holds interest. Crosland went on to film The Jazz Singer the next year, as well as another adventure film with Barrymore, The Beloved Rogue.

Though the Vitaphone film score is, in fact, synchronized it is not especially interesting musically. And the sound effects are used sparingly, which is a little disappointing. The only real sound effects used at all are a couple of places where someone knocks on a door, and a few clanks of the swords during a fight. In the end the real reason for watching the film is all of the great stars, especially since most of them would go on to have reasonably successful careers in the sound era. The film has just the right amount of humor and intrigue and romance that it keeps the proceedings moving apace. In spite of its flaws, Don Juan is actually a quite enjoyable silent film.