Wednesday 16 May 2012

Sangren fra Sevilla (The Singer From Seville) 1930


Lowry refers to the film The Singer From Seville in his novel Ultramarine; "past where Ramon Novarro is playing in Sangren fra Sevilla." (Pg. 68). This reference is made by Dana Hilliot when he is thinking of Oslo which reflects Lowry's visit to the city in 1931. This is the only reference made by Lowry to the film and there is no other record of whether he saw the film. The cinema where Dana sees the film is showing is possibly in Stortingsgata as Lowry mentions that Dana is walking down that street in Oslo. The cinema could possibly have been Scala cinema, Stortingsgt 28; National cinema, Stortingsgt 10; Cordial, Stortingsgt 16; Circus World Theater Stortingsgt 20; Bio-Rama Stortingsgata 14; Kosmorama Stortingsgt 14 or the Boulevard Theatre Stortingsgt which can be seen below in early 1940's.


The film was called Call of the Flesh in America directed by Charles Brabin. The film stars Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, and Renée Adorée. It featured several songs performed by Novarro and originally included a sequence photographed in Technicolor. Read more on Wikipedia


The version which Lowry possibly saw may be different to the original one. As with several American films made between 1930 and 1932, Call of the Flesh was remade into two alternate language versions. Novarro appears in both, reprising his role as Juan de Dios Carbajal, and directed both of them. They were filmed using a different crew and supporting cast on the same sets at MGM Studios. A German-language version, also to be directed by Novarro, was never filmed for financial reasons.

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