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Mare Nostrum (1926 film)

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Wikipedia article




'Mare Nostrum' is a 1926 American silent war drama film directed by Rex Ingram. It was the first production made by Ingram while in voluntary exileMiller, 2004 TCM: Ingram was disgusted with Hollywood....[and] fled [to Europe] in 1924...in Nice, France... he bought his own studio in Nice, the Victorine... to film 'Mare Nostrum'.
Brownlow, 2018: Ingram so loathed Louis B. Mayer that he refused to allow his name on his pictures... still under contract [to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios], Ingram emigrated in 1924 to the south of France...using M-G-M money to make films.
and stars Ingram's wife, Alice Terry. The film is set during World War I, and follows a Spanish merchant sailor who becomes involved with a German spy. It is based on the novel of the same name by Vicente Blasco Ibez. Long thought lost, the film has recently been re-discovered and restored.

Plot



As a young boy growing up in a Spanish family with a long and very distinguished maritime tradition, Ulysses Ferragut is regaled with tales of the sea by his retired uncle, the "Triton" (Apollon), and is particularly fascinated by his claim to have once seen the sea goddess Amphitrite. Though his lawyer father, Don Esteban, wants him to follow in his footsteps, Ulysses becomes a sailor.

When he is a grown man (Antonio Moreno), Ulysses uses his life savings to purchase the 'Mare Nostrum', a fast, modern freighter, and prospers. However, he finally gives in to his wife, Doa Cinta, for the sake of their son Esteban, and agrees to sell his ship. With the outbreak of World War I, however, the enormous profits to be made from the sudden demand for shipping ends this plan.

On a stop in Italy, Ulysses visits the ruins of Pompeii, and meets Freya Talberg (Alice Terry) and the learned Doctor Fedelmann. He soon falls in love with Freya (who looks exactly like his uncle's painting of Amphitrite). Though she later informs him that she is an Austrian spy (as is Fedelmann), Spain is neutral and his ardor is undiminished. He agrees to transport Count Kaledine to a secret rendezvous in the Mediterranean. The U-boat 'U-35' surfaces, takes on fuel from Ulysses' ship, and departs with Kaledine.

Meanwhile, young Esteban leaves home without permission to find his father. After a week waiting for Ulysses at his lodgings, Esteban goes back to Barcelona aboard the 'Californian', a British passenger ship. However, the boy is killed when the 'Californian' is sunk by the 'U-35'. Ulysses learns of his son's fate from a survivor, and realizes to his grief his role in the tragedy. He vows to avenge his boy.

Upon hearing of the death, Freya sends Ulysses a letter denouncing the barbarity of the act; it is intercepted by Doctor Fedelmann. That, along with Freya's admission she has fallen in love with Ulysses, convinces Fedelmann that her subordinate can no longer be trusted. She sends Freya to Marseilles, intending to betray her to the French. Freya suspects as much, and begs Ulysses to take her to safety aboard his ship. Ulysses is torn, but a vision of his son shaking his head makes him refuse. Freya is later captured, convicted, and shot by a firing squad at dawn.

As he is leaving Freya's apartment, Ulysses encounters Count Kaledine. After a brief struggle, he chases Kaledine through the streets, gathering a mob. Kaledine is caught and taken into custody.

Ulysses then employs the 'Mare Nostrum' in the service of the Allies, arming her with a deck gun, replacing his crew with French military sailors, and transporting munitions to Salonica. Only longtime family friend and sea cook Caragol refuses to leave him. On the voyage, they are intercepted by the 'U-35'. With the 'Mare Nostrum' torpedoed and doomed, Ulysses mans the abandoned deck gun and sinks the 'U-35'. As Ulysses descends into the ocean depths, Amphitrite rises to embrace and kiss him.

Cast



Production



Rex Ingram's reputation as an outstanding Hollywood directorMiller, 2004 TCM: ...because with hits like 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Prisoner of Zenda' (1922) and 'Scaramouche' (1923) he was considered one of Hollywood's top directors. rested on the enormous success of his 1921 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse', a film adaption of Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco Ibez s work that had, according to Kevin Brownlow made a star of Valentino, saved Metro Pictures from bankruptcy, and earned the director the undying gratitude of the head of Metro, Marcus Loew.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: ...Rex Ingram had his biggest success with 1921's The 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,' from the Vicente Blasco Ibez novel...
Miller, 2004 TCM: He had scored one of his biggest successes with his adaptation of Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco Ibez's 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' in 1921.
Ingram was determined to adapt another Ibez novel, his 1918 'Mare Nostrum', an epic tale of World War I espionage and naval battles. The title was taken from the Latin term used by ancient Romans for the Mediterranean Sea.Miller, 2004 TCM: ...Ibanez's favorite novel, 'Mare Nostrum', an epic tale of World War I espionage and naval battles, seemed a natural choice for Ingram.
Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: ...'Mare Nostrum', a retelling of the Mata Hari story set during the U-boat campaign in World War I.




Ingram purchased the former Gaumont studio located in Nice, France, financed by M-G-M preliminary to making 'Mare Nostrum'. The facility required extensive upgrades, and regional technical services support was inadequate.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: Ingram took over a rundown former Gaumont studio [in southern France]...Using MGM money, Ingram re-equipped it.
Miller, 2004 TCM: For Mare Nostrum, he bought his own studio in Nice [France], the Victorine. Although it required extensive modernization, he got around that by including the costs within the budget paid by MGM...


Film archivist Kevin Brownlow writes:

The film adaptation required location shooting in France, Italy and Spain, obliging Ingram to allot the sequences shot in Barcelona to his cinematographer John F. Seitz. 'Mare Nostrum' took 15 months to complete.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: Shot in picturesque locations such as Barcelona, Naples, Paestum, Marseilles, and Pompeii, Mare Nostrum took fifteen months to make.
Miller, 2004 TCM: Everything about 'Mare Nostrum' was big. It was shot in three countries -- France, Italy and Spain -- on such a massive scale that Ingram couldn't even direct the Spanish sequences himself. He handed them instead to cinematographer John F. Seitz. It took so long to make the film ...15 months...




A highly regarded sequence in 'Mare Nostrum' depicts spy Freya Talberg's execution by German authorities for treason. Film archivist Kevin Brownlow describes it as perhaps the finest sequence Ingram ever shot.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: Perhaps the finest sequence Ingram ever shot was the execution of Freya. For the sake of atmosphere, he hired the same bugle band that had attended the execution of Mata Hari. The 24th Battalion de Chasseurs Alpins, the Blue Devils, also appeared in the sequence, photographed at Vincennes, near the Path factory, where such executions had so frequently been carried out. Film historian Charles Higham describes Ingram's cinematic handling of her demise:

From the over one million feet of film Ingram shot, his editing produced a four-hour rough cut. The studio made further cuts, including scenes deemed anti-German by that country's embassy. 'Mare Nostrum', with a running time of just under two-hours premiered at New York's Criterion Theatre on 15 February 1926.Miller, 2004 TCM: In addition, Ingram shot much more film than he could have used -- over one million feet. After much editing, MGM came up with a version running just under two hours for its New York premiere...
Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: Editor Grant Whytock estimated that the rough cut of the film reached twenty-three thousand feet [and] ended up with two hours of film. And: It is safe to assume that many important scenes were eliminated on orders from MGM's front office, including some anti-German scenes after complaints from the German Embassy. An abbreviated version of 115 minutes had its premiere at the Criterion Theatre, New York, on February 15, 1926...
Soares, [https://books.google.com/books?id=W0yrDL1lFH8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Beyond+Paradise:+The+Life+of+Ramon+Novarro,+Soares&source=bl&ots=cALEvIxlkh&sig=lY8HJFANAH-_TCgvU5lNECrJO5M&hl=en&ei=5Vv-TNjoNozrrQfah9G7CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBQ#v=snippet&q=Mare%20Nostrum&f=false p. 131, p. 137 (note)].Susan Delson, 'Dudley Murphy, Hollywood Wild Card', Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2006, , [https://books.google.com/books?id=xUeeOXrIvdEC&pg=PA72&dq=Ingram,+Mare+Nostrum&hl=en&ei=j17-TIPnNojorQe17YW4CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20sordid%20tale%20of%20World%20War%20I&f=false p. 72].

Critical and popular response



'Mare Nostrum' opened to encouraging critical reviews, though both 'Motion Picture Magazine' and 'Variety' reported that audience response at its premier was unimpressive.Miller, 2004 TCM: Even shortened, however, it was a critical triumph...
Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: The initial reviews and public response were encouraging. But according to 'Motion Picture' magazine, it was a cold premiere. A flop. And: 'Variety' considered it draggy and reported that the depiction of the enemy drew snickers on the first night. Besides which, 'Variety' continued, it's a gruesome tale without a solid laugh during the entire telling.


Ingram insisted on retaining the original title from Ibez's novel, which some critics and audiences found perplexing ('mare' is Latin for sea, in English, a female horse).Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: The title didn't help: Ingram had fought as hard to retain the original Latin as he had to keep the tragic ending. He had even been reluctant to add the subtitle Our Sea...(Broadway wags called it Horse Liniment).



Movie-goers of Spanish and Italian descent flocked to the Mediterranean-themed picture at New York's Capitol Theatre, grossing M-G-M almost $20,000 in the first two weeks of its release.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: ...the picture did good business in New York for a while thanks to the Italian and Spanish population, smashing records at the Capitol, grossing $118,249 in two weeks.



Post-World War I nationalism in Europe polarized the reaction to 'Mare Nostrum', which depicts a German U-boat destruction of a Spanish merchant ship. The film was praised in France and banned in Germany. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer issued a 'mea culpa' to placate their European markets.Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: In August came the French premiere, attended by the prime minister, infuriating the Germans who banned the film...MGM, facing a boycott from Central Europe, gave a formal promise to refrain from the production of pictures tending to provoke international animosity. .The studio began making films portraying the Germans in a more favorable light... And:"'Mare Nostrum' gradually slumped at the box office..."Harry Waldman, 'Beyond Hollywood's Grasp: American Filmmakers Abroad, 1914-1945', Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow, 1994, , [https://books.google.com/books?id=LsIFjMwioJEC&pg=PA36&dq=Ingram,+Mare+Nostrum&hl=en&ei=j17-TIPnNojorQe17YW4CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Favorable%20reviews%20in%20France%20in%20late%201925&f=false p. 37].

Influence



Ingram positioned the notable love scene between Alice Terry and Antonio Moreno in front of a large aquarium tank featuring a large octopus, eliciting audience annoyance at 'Mare Nostrum's New York premier. Director Orson Welles admired it, adapting the imagery for the seduction scene from his 'The Lady from Shanghai' (1947).Miller, 2004 TCM: Although hard to find for years, it would have a huge influence on other filmmakers. Orson Welles drew on one sequence, a love scene between Terry and Moreno played in front of the octopus tank in an aquarium. In 'The Lady From Shanghai' (1947), Rita Hayworth seduces Welles while in front of a tank in which one fish preys on another.
Brownlow, 2018 SFSFF: the symbolic love scene with an octopus in a tank [was completed with] one take...(it influenced Orson Welles to try something similar in 'Lady from Shanghai'.) And: The aquarium love scenes were the most annoying [premier audiences] had witnessed...





The young Michael Powell worked as an apprentice grip on the film, having been introduced by set designer Harry Lachman. He later credited Ingram's 'Mare Nostrum' with influencing his own directorial efforts, among them 'Black Narcissus' (1947) and 'The Red Shoes' (1948).Miller, 2004 TCM: British director Michael Powell, who worked on Mare Nostrum as a grip, would cite Ingram as one of the influences on his own visionary epics, including 'Black Narcissus' (1947) and 'The Red Shoes' (1948).

Sound remake



A second film version of 'Mare Nostrum', this one a sound film, was made in Spanish in 1948. It starred Fernando Rey and Mara Flix, and was directed by Rafael Gil, who, the year before, had directed the first full-length Spanish film version of the 1869 'Don Quixote' ballet, based on the early 17th century novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

Footnotes



Sources



* Brownlow, Kevin. 2018. 'Mare Nostrum'. San Francisco Silent Film Festival. https://silentfilm.org/mare-nostrum/ Retrieved 14 June 2021.

* Higham, Charles. 1973. 'The Art of the American Film: 1900-1971'. Doubleday & Company, Inc. New York.

* Miller. Frank. 2004. Mare Nostrum. Turner Classic Movies. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1253/mare-nostrum#articles-reviews?articleId=70890 Retrieved 13 June 2021.

External Sources



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* [http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/M/MareNostrum1926.html 'Mare Nostrum'] at silentera.com

* [http://allanellenberger.com/wp-content/uploads/marenostrum2.png Lobby poster, theatrical; $2 asking price for theater entrance]

* [http://www.silentsaregolden.com/featurefolder/marenostrumscenes.html Stills] at silentsaregolden.com

* [https://www.tcm.com/video/1044614/mare-nostrum-1926-movie-clip-goddess-of-the-sea Film clip] at tcm.com

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Category:1926 films

Category:American romantic drama films

Category:American silent feature films

Category:American spy films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Films based on Spanish novels

Category:Films based on works by Vicente Blasco Ibez

Category:Films directed by Rex Ingram

Category:Films set in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films

Category:U-boat fiction

Category:World War I naval films

Category:World War I spy films

Category:World War I submarine films

Category:1920s rediscovered films

Category:1926 romantic drama films

Category:Rediscovered American films

Category:1920s American films

Category:Silent romantic drama films

Category:Silent adventure films

Category:Silent war films

Category:Silent American drama films

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