Scaramouche (1923)
(Rex Ingram, US 1923, 124 min., 35mm)
Born in Mexico, José Ramón Gil Samaniego and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager to escape the Mexican Revolution. He was acting on film within a decade and adopted the screen name Ramon Novarro at the suggestion of director Rex Ingram, with whom he worked seven times. Following the death of fellow “latin lover” Rudolph Valentino, Novarro became a major sex symbol. In his first important starring role Novarro leaps, deceives, and swashbuckles for justice (and beautiful Alice Terry) during the French Revolution in Rex Ingram’s thrilling and visually spectacular adaptation of Rafael Sabatini’s renowned adventure classic. Ingram fills the screen with movement and memorable imagery, with everything captured in John Seitz’s masterful camerawork. This George Eastman Museum print is universally considered the best extant version of this visual feast.
Live piano accompaniment by Philip C. Carli