THE BELOVED ROGUE On Blu-ray From Kino

 

The latest title in Kino's excellent series of classic silent movie Blu-ray releases is THE BELOVED ROGUE, a 1927 historical adventure starring John Barrymore and Conrad Veidt. 

THE BELOVED ROGUE is set in 15th Century France, where vagabond poet Francois Villon (John Barrymore) gets involved in thwarting a plot by the Duke of Burgundy to usurp the throne from King Louis XI (Conrad Veidt). During his various antics Villon still finds time to woo Charlotte (Marceline Day), a member of the royal court. 

This is a movie which has John Barrymore's attempt to play a Douglas Fairbanks-type of role. Barrymore highlights Villon's love of wine, women, and fun, and tones down the swashbuckling elements. (Villon defeats his foes using wits and pluck instead of athletic prowess.) There's no doubt that Barrymore had a lot of fun playing Villon as a raggedy rascal. In the later part of the film, when Villon gains the favor of the king and is "cleaned up", the poet spends a lot of time romancing Charlotte, and these scenes are the weakest in the picture. 

Barrymore almost gets upstaged by Conrad Veidt (making his American film debut) as the grotesque King Louis. Veidt portrays the king as a living gargoyle (his eyes literally gleam with madness). It's great watching Barrymore and Veidt hamming it up in their scenes together. (It's a sure bet that Barrymore probably wished that he could have played Louis XI.) 

One example of the lightheartedness of this film's approach is the fact that two of Villon's closest companions are played by comedy veterans Mack Swain and Slim Summerville, and another is played by Angelo Rossitto as "Beppo the Dwarf". There's also a number of stunts and gags that wouldn't be out of place in a Harold Lloyd picture. 

The movie may be silly at times, but the production values are top notch. The legendary William Cameron Menzies was involved in the design elements of this feature, and the various sets, shot compositions, and costumes are consistently eye-catching. What makes this film even more notable is that most of the action takes place in a snowy, wind-swept Paris (one almost never sees winter shown in a classic historical epic, especially during the silent era). Universal's silent THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME was also set in 15th Century France, but while that film was stodgy and slow, THE BELOVED ROGUE has an energy and a sweep to it. 

As expected, Kino's release of THE BELOVED ROGUE looks magnificent visually. The picture quality is very sharp, and the movie is augmented with plenty of dramatic tinting. This release features a rousing music score by Robert Israel that perfectly matches the film's tone (the score is available in either 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround). 

The main extra is a new audio commentary by Anthony Slide. He goes into the background of the production, such as William Cameron Menzies' effect on it, but he spends most of his time giving biographical info on the cast & crew and reciting the names of films those people were involved with. There's also an introduction to the film by Orson Welles that was produced for TV in the 1970s. 

I wouldn't put THE BELOVED ROGUE on the same level as the best Douglas Fairbanks silent epics, but it's still very entertaining. It's worth seeing mainly for the work of John Barrymore, Conrad Veidt, and William Cameron Menzies.