Rent The Beloved Rogue (1927)

Silent Romp. - The Beloved Rogue review by Steve

Euphoric, life affirming adventure-romance* set in medieval Paris with John Barrymore as (real life) French poet and bon vivant, François Villon, who slums with beggars while fraternising with the king (Conrad Veidt) and romancing his daughter (Marceline Day). 

Presumably the doggerel quoted in the film is a bad translation… Barrymore is pretty much the whole show and the Great Profile does the film sideways to exploit his trademark feature! And with such wit and exuberance! Veidt is fine as the cosseted, puerile monarch, though Day makes little of the perfunctory love interest.

The extensive sets of 15th century Paris (by William Cameron Menzies) bring atmosphere. There is an engaging sense of period, though hardly informed by realism.  The silent era- and the ‘30s- is a golden age of romance and adventure. And this is a riot.

This kind of cinema can't be made anymore. No one would contemplate an adventure so happily romantic. Or allow its star to overact so magnificently! Naturally, this isn’t an escape into medieval Paris, but into the arcane and exotic conventions of ’20-30s Hollywood. And it’s a place of pure delight. 

*The print is appalling.