''Tempest'' is a 1928 American synchronized

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Sam Taylor Samuel, Sam or Sammy Taylor (male first name) may refer to: Arts * Sam Taylor (director) (1895–1958), American film director and screenwriter * Samuel W. Taylor (1907–1997), American author * Samuel A. Taylor (1912–2000), playwright and sc ...

. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. V. I. Nemirovich-Dantchenko wrote the

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

and

William Cameron Menzies William Cameron Menzies (July 29, 1896 – March 5, 1957) was an American filmmaker who pioneered the discipline of production design, a job title he invented. His career spanned five decades, during which time he also worked as an art director, ...

won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

for his work in the film in 1929, the first year of the awards ceremony.

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly a ...

and

Camilla Horn Camilla Martha Horn (25 April 1903 – 14 August 1996) was a German dancer and a film star of the silent and sound era. She starred in several Hollywood films of the late 1920s and in a few British and Italian productions. Biography The daught ...

star in the film, with

Louis Wolheim Louis Robert Wolheim (March 28, 1880 – February 18, 1931) was an American actor, of both stage and screen, whose rough physical appearance relegated him to roles mostly of thugs, villains and occasionally a soldier with a heart of gold in ...

co-starring. Preserved by two US archives George Eastman House and UCLA Film and TV.

Plot

The film is set during final days of Czarist Russia and revolves around a peasant who rises through the ranks of the Russian army ending up a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. His life is made increasingly difficult by the

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

s and officers around him who are resentful of his progress. He then finds himself rejected by a princess he falls in love with and, having been caught in her room, is put in prison. There he is stripped of his rank, but soon after the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

starts, and as a result of the

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

, the tables are turned.

Cast

as Sgt. Ivan Markov *

as Princess Tamara *

as Sgt. Bulba *

Boris de Fast Boris de Fast (July 6, 1890 – 1973) was a Russian actor, screenwriter, film editor and make-up artist. Born in Feodosia, Feodosia, Crimea in the Russian Empire, he emigrated to France, where he worked in the Cinema of France, film industry. His ...

as Peddler / Commissar *

George Fawcett George Fawcett (August 25, 1860 – June 6, 1939) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1860, Fawcett graduated from the University of Virginia. His initial inclination was to be a ...

as General * Ullrich Haupt as Captain *

Michael Visaroff Michael Simeon Visaroff (born Mikhail Semenonovich Vizarov (Russian: Михаил Семёнович Визаров); December 18, 1889 – February 27, 1951) was a Russian-born character actor, who worked in the United States on stage and s ...

as Guard

Music

The film featured a theme song entitled "Out Of The Tempest" which was composed by Edward Grossman and Ted Ward.

Accolades

The film won the first Academy Award for Production Design along with 1927's ''The Dove'' as both were designed by William Cameron Menzies. The award was originally called Best Interior Decoration.

References

External links