By Violet LeVoit
Call of the Flesh
Brief Synopsis
A Latin lover fights for the heart of a beautiful convent girl.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Charles Brabin
Director
Ramón Novarro
Juan
Dorothy Jordan
María
Ernest Torrence
Esteban
Nance O'neil
Mother Superior
Renée Adorée
Lola
Film Details
Also Known As
The Singer of Seville
Genre
Musical
Drama
Release Date
Aug
16,
1930
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 40m
Sound
Mono (MovieTone)
Color
Black and White, Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9,178ft
(11 reels)
Synopsis
María, a novice, admires cafe singer Juan, who is attempting to resist the advances of his partner, Lola. After seeing him from atop the wall of the convent, María builds up an aura of romance around him. Escaping from the convent, she meets Juan, who himself is fleeing from the fiesta and the police. Juan responds to her affectionately and is determined to adopt and protect her. With Esteban, his vocal teacher, and María, Juan goes to Madrid to audition for the opera. Having fallen in love with María, Juan becomes engaged to her; the spurned Lola encourages María's brother, Enrique, to separate them, claiming he has taken her from the Church. Juan pretends to reject her, and she returns to the cloister, but Juan is grief-stricken during a triumphant operatic performance. Lola appeals to the mother superior, who releases María, since she has not taken her final vows.
Director
Charles Brabin
Director
Cast
Ramón Novarro
Juan
Dorothy Jordan
María
Ernest Torrence
Esteban
Nance O'neil
Mother Superior
Renée Adorée
Lola
Mathilde Comont
La Rumbarita
Russell Hopton
Enrique
Crew
John Colton
Dial
David Cox
Wardrobe
Gaetano Donizetti
Composer
Dorothy Farnum
Story
Merritt B. Gerstad
Director of Photography
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Clifford Grey
Composer
Conrad A. Nervig
Film Editor
Ramón Novarro
Composer
Douglas Shearer
Recording Engineer
Ralph Shugart
Recording Engineer
Herbert Stothart
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Composer
Film Details
Also Known As
The Singer of Seville
Genre
Musical
Drama
Release Date
Aug
16,
1930
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 40m
Sound
Mono (MovieTone)
Color
Black and White, Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9,178ft
(11 reels)
Articles
Call of the Flesh
Ramon Novarro was worried about his future in 1930, and it was more than the normal jitters facing any silent actor transitioning to sound. Along with his personal troubles as a gay actor living a closeted life in Hollywood, he'd recently discovered his personal assistant had bled his accounts dry. Luckily he was offered a dream role in a project originally titled "The Singer of Seville", as an aspiring opera singer in love with a novice nun he can never have. Novarro, who once nursed operatic ambitions, was thrilled to rise to the challenge. "Now that the screen has combined sound with acting," he told one interviewer, "there is no need for me to give up one art for the other." (The only thing he didn't like was the title change.) The shoot was exhausting, especially for co-star Renée Adorée, who was suffering from tuberculosis and collapsed on the last day. (Being pushed too hard on this movie contributed to her death two years later.) The movie did well at the box office, and Novarro followed up the triumph by directing and starring in the Spanish language version La Sevillana (1930), the first time he spoke his native tongue on screen.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Call of the Flesh
Ramon Novarro was worried about his future in 1930, and it was more than the normal jitters facing any silent actor transitioning to sound. Along with his personal troubles as a gay actor living a closeted life in Hollywood, he'd recently discovered his personal assistant had bled his accounts dry. Luckily he was offered a dream role in a project originally titled "The Singer of Seville", as an aspiring opera singer in love with a novice nun he can never have. Novarro, who once nursed operatic ambitions, was thrilled to rise to the challenge. "Now that the screen has combined sound with acting," he told one interviewer, "there is no need for me to give up one art for the other." (The only thing he didn't like was the title change.) The shoot was exhausting, especially for co-star Renée Adorée, who was suffering from tuberculosis and collapsed on the last day. (Being pushed too hard on this movie contributed to her death two years later.) The movie did well at the box office, and Novarro followed up the triumph by directing and starring in the Spanish language version La Sevillana (1930), the first time he spoke his native tongue on screen.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Initially reviewed as The Singer of Seville. Spanish and French-language versions were also produced: see Sevilla de mis amores.
