Warner. Director Alan Crosland; Screenplay Bess Meredyth, Walter Anthony, Maude Fulton; Camera Byron Haskin; Editor Harold McCord; Music William Axt; Art Director Ben Carre
John Barrymore
Mary Astor
Estelle Taylor
Warner Oland
Montagu Love
Myrna Loy
Several outstanders in this splendidly written, directed and produced feature. Not alone does John Barrymore's superb playing become one of them, but his athletics, as well. A chase scene is a bear. It's of Don Juan carrying his Adriana away, followed by about a dozen swordsmen on horses, with Barrymore placing his charge in a tree, to return and knock off all of the riders, one by one or in twos.
The complete surprise is the performance of Estelle Taylor as Lucretia Borgia. Her Lucretia is a fine piece of work. She makes it sardonic in treatment, conveying precisely the woman Lucretia is presumed to have been. The other outstanding performance is that of Mary Astor's Adriana. Astor has but comparatively little action, but fills the part so thoroughly that she is a dominating figure. Warner Oland is Cesare, the savage brother, and he looks the role.
(B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1926. Running time: 100 MIN.
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