Monsieur Beaucaire (1924 film)

Monsieur Beaucaire is a 1924 silent film drama based on the Booth Tarkington novel of the same name. Filmed at Paramount Studios in New York City, it was produced and directed by Sidney Olcott and starred Rudolph Valentino.

Monsieur Beaucaire was part of a series of box office and critical disappointments that plagued Valentino midcareer. Although the film did fairly well in big cities, it flopped in smaller locales, and could not exceed the expensive budget Olcott put into the films production. Historians Kevin Brownlow and John Kobal suggested that the films shortcomings stemmed more from Olcotts pedestrian direction.Many viewers and critics, perhaps expecting the more virile Valentino of his earlier films, felt that his onscreen persona with its heavy makeup, frilled attire and arch mannerisms particularly in the first half was overly feminized in Monsieur Beaucaire a somewhat unfair accusation considering that much of the film satirizes the excesses of the court of Louis XV. Much of the blame for the films alleged shortcomings was assigned to Valentinos wife Natacha Rambova who was felt by many of Valentinos colleagues to have had an undue influence on the costumes, set and direction of the film. Alicia Annas wrote that audiences were most likely alienated by the general design of the film which, while historically accurate, was not tailored to 1920s American filmgoers tastes. ........

Source: Wikipedia