Vasilii Naidionoff Absolute masterpiece of style! Actors: Very effective type of acting with minimum movements of characters in manner like sculptures which come to life(matador's gesture of Valentino with up hands when he wants to kill his sweetheart at last them meeting - for example).See this influence in acting even in avant-garde films of Kenneth Anger. Decorations:Clothes and decorations with Art Deco for more romantic and impression.Scenario: Simple and correct (in Shakespire's manner).Love in Spring,Death at Winter... Direction: As good as it's possible.Because punctual and accurate sets maximum style for this king-size drama.

FerdinandVonGalitzien This modernized film version of the Herr Alexander Dumas story takes some liberties from the original (well, this German Count has to say that it is always better to make a good, original adaptation than a simple copy). "Camille" (a strong and ethereal girl), known as "the lady with the camellias", was directed by the relatively unknown Herr Ray C. Smallwood. It's a strange film for this German Count…. strange because there is something bizarre about this film that deeply mystifies and haunts the audience at the same time (even those aristocrats who have a chance to see it).The film was produced by and starred the stylish Damen Alla Nazimova and also featured the handsome Herr Valentino. At the time, Nazimova was a star. Herr Valentino was just becoming a big star. The acting, especially Valentino, is static and clumsy but at the same time the exaggerated, divine, fragile Nazimova's performance balanced things incredibly well. (That's why this German Count said before that this film had something special… there is to a great extent a fair unreal reality.) Their different acting styles fit fairly well in a film that wants to expose the sublimation of love; it's a romantic film par excellence.This film has a story larger than life…it is a remembrance or idealization of "pure love", the sacrificing love and the love tragic. It is a film that projects a dreamful film atmosphere in a haunting Paris society full of dilettantes (if we talk about those people, there must appear a Count …de Varville, natürlich!). They live an unconcerned life surrounded by banality and selfishness, besides strange furniture and outfits. They lack feelings. Ultimately Camille has the chance to find at last her true love suffering at the very end. And thus ends one of the most interesting and romantic silent films of the early 20's (book adaptations or not).And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must to investigate if the love in itself exists.

Snow Leopard This is a good adaptation of the familiar story of "Camille", with a fair number of interesting features that make it worth seeing. In its time, it was a vehicle for Alla Nazimova's distinctive style, and her approach gives the whole story a tone different from most other versions. It's also of interest for its (then) contemporary setting and for having Rudolph Valentino in the role of Armand.Once you have seen Greta Garbo's outstanding 1936 performance in the role, it becomes very difficult afterwards to look at any other actress objectively as Camille, and indeed no one else has ever come close to Garbo's standard. But Nazimova's approach works fine in itself, and she gives the character a different but interesting personality. Nazimova gives Camille a decidedly world-weary nature, and she makes the character seem about to go over the edge at any moment. Her sudden transformation due to the influence of the innocent Armand makes the character sympathetic, while accentuating her instability. It's interesting to see Valentino as Armand, since the role calls for him to allow himself to be completely dominated by Camille and his feelings for her. He does rather well in making the character believable.By replacing the usual period background with what was then a contemporary setting, the movie also emphasizes the emptiness of Camille's world before meeting Armand. The story also makes regular use of the parallel with the 'Manon Lescaut' story that provides a parallel to the main story. All of these things make this silent screen version quite interesting, and it is well worth seeing as a somewhat different take on the story.

pocca Nazimova truly is a creature like none other. Though born in the 1870's she is not of the nineteenth century nor of the roaring twenties. With her choppy afro and willowy—even anorexic—body, if she suggests any period at all, it is maybe the Andy Warhol disco seventies. But she's definitely watchable in this movie, even touching—she has a rather cherubic face under her bizarre hairstyle which makes her believable as Camille, the dying courtesan whose last chance at happiness is destroyed when the father of her lover Armand Duval demands that she give him up. Armand, played by Rudolph Valentino, allegedly had much of his role reduced by Nazimova who could recognize a fellow scene stealer when she saw one (he is replaced by a book in the deathbed scene!), but he manages to make his impassioned, surly presence felt. Falling as quickly into resentment as he earlier did into love when he believes Nazimova has tired of him, he comes across as both sympathetic and shallow (and quite funny in the casino scenes when he tries a bit too hard to make Camille jealous by flirting with an unworthy tootsie who resembles Mae West). The art deco set design that still looks contemporary almost constitutes a character in itself.