Don Caesar De Bazan
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Robert G. Vignola
W. Lawson Butt
Robert D. Walker
Helen Lindroth
Harry Millarde
Alice Hollister
Film Details
Synopsis
King Charles II of Spain becomes infatuated with Maritana, a dancer, after she saves the life of the swashbuckling but broke adventurer Don Caesar de Bazan in a street brawl. Prime Minister Don Jose, to encourage the king's interest so that Queen Mary Louise will come to him for solace, arranges for Maritana to marry Don Caesar, now condemned to death for duelling, so that Maritana can acquire a title. During the masked ceremony, Don Caesar's friend Lazarillo extracts the bullets from the executioners' guns. Don Caesar then feigns death and escapes to pursue Don Jose's carriage carrying Maritana to the king's hunting lodge. After Don Caesar rescues Maritana from a royal embrace, he seeks the queen's help and finds her struggling with the repulsed Don Jose. Don Caesar kills Don Jose in a duel, and after he shows his bloody sword to the king and relates his exploit, the king realizes his own base inclinations and withdraws from his attempt to rape Maritana. Don Caesar is subsequently appointed Governor of Granada.
Director
Robert G. Vignola
Cast
W. Lawson Butt
Robert D. Walker
Helen Lindroth
Harry Millarde
Alice Hollister
Stockton Quincy
James B. Ross
Mary Taylor Ross
John E. Mackin
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The opera was based on the play Don César de Bazan by Adolphe Philippe Dennery and Philippe François Dumanoir, produced in 1844. That play, in turn, is partly based on Victor Hugo's play Ruy Blas, published in France in 1838. The film was shot in and around an old Spanish fort in St. Augustine, FL. W. Lawson Butt played the same role in stage productions of the play. The 1920 Fox film The Adventurer is similar to this film and, although it is unacknowledged, May have been based on the same source. The play was the basis for the 1923 United Artists release Rosita, starring Mary Pickford and directed by Ernst Lubitsch; and the Famous Players-Lasky production The Spanish Dancer, starring Pola Negri and directed by Herbert Brenon. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.4702 and F2.5290.) Hugo's novel Ruy Blas has been the basis for several films, among them the 1948 French production starring Jean Marais, adapted by Jean Cocteau and directed by Pierce Billon.
