Customer Reviews

The Private Life of Don Juan [VHS]

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Though appropriately cast in the title role, "The Private Life of Don Juan" (1934) proved a less-than-spectacular swansong for Douglas Fairbanks. Director Alexander Korda's attempt to duplicate the success of "The Private Life of Henry VIII" was a doomed enterprise. To make matters worse, the aging Fairbanks had little enthusiasm for his sound films, with the exception of the light-hearted "Mr. Robinson Crusoe" (1932). Despite Korda's fine production values, one wishes that Fairbanks had not made this flat and depressing "romantic satire."

Even by the often unstable conditions of the movie industry, Sir Alexander Korda (1893-1956)had quite a varied career. He started out in 1916 as pioneer director in his native Hungary, then emigrated to Austria in 1919, where he made the epic Samson and Dalila (1922), before ending up in Hollywood like so many talented figures from Central Europe. Although he was quite successful here--one of his hits was The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927)--he was, I believe, ruined in the Market Crash of 1929 and returned to Europe. After a brief sojourn in France, he went to England and founded London Films in 1932.

Korda's London Films productions were the absolute antithesis of run-of-the-mill British movies at that time: cosmopolitan rather than provincial; literate rather than stagy; and often distinguished by an unusual visual flair. Nevertheless, precisely the things that made Korda's movies attractive to educated moviegoers in the 1930s are exactly the things that are likely to make them a deadly bore to present day viewers. The Private Life of Don Juan well illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of Korda's work as producer, especially in the casting. As one of the ladies of Seville, Merle Oberon looks photogenic enough and performs well, but as the aging Don Juan, the aging Douglas Fairbanks doesn't cut a happy figure, and his rather prosaic American enunciation clashes with the sculpted tones of British thespians. Moreover, the movie's coy attempts at risque humor, in contrast to the gutsy ribaldry of contemporary American pictures, come across today as the kind of stuff primarily intended to titillate someone's maiden aunt.

But Korda as a director is a rather different story--he may be the unique example in movie history of a producer whose best director was himself. Sadly, many of Korda's silent films have vanished, but the extant evidence from the 1930s suggests that Sir Alexander was on occasion capable of rivalling such masters of staging and composition of the 1920s as Lubitsch and Lang. Although The Private Life of Don Juan is not as effectively filmed as The Private Life of Henry VIII nor Rembrandt--his real masterpiece--it is still a stylish piece which exploits the scenic possibilities of 18th century Spanish architecture such as imposing facades, latticework, jalousies, wrought iron gates, and various structural decorations for all they are worth. One particularly impressive example of Korda's eye for composition is the scene of Don Juan's supposed funeral, with masses of black-garbed mourners juxtaposed against the neutral tones of the set, a scene that quite transcends the rest of this etiolated farce.

As might be expected in a Korda picture, the production values are first-rate. The delicious sets were designed by Korda's brother Vincent and the costumes by Oliver Messel; the great French cinematographer Georges Perinal did the photography; and the movies features quite a good score by Ernst Toch. As an added bonus, The Private Life of Don Juan includes one of the few screen appearances by Natalie Paley, a luminary of cafe society and Romanov princess who tried unsuccessfully to break into the movies.