Beloved Rogue (1926) (Silent) (DVD)

John Barrymore in the swashbuckling adventures of Francois VillonThe Beloved RogueJohn Barrymore sought to out-swashbuckle Douglas Fairbanks in his breathless depiction of France's rapscallion poet, thief and vagabond: Franois Villon (1431-1463). To prove his mettle, he bounds over the snowy rooftops of Paris, scales a castle tower, and is hurled skyward by the royal catapultbut this is no mere stunt picture. Barrymore wielded a simmering sexuality that Fairbanks lacked, endowing the film with an element of eroticism that perfectly suits Villon, who loved "France earnestly, Frenchwomen excessively, French wine exclusively."A lavish spectacle boasting the set designs of William Cameron Menzies (The Thief of Bagdad), THE BELOVED ROGUE is Hollywood myth-making at its most ambitious...and entertaining.Beyond Barrymore, the cast is sprinkled with celebrated character actors. Fresh from a series of diabolical roles in the German silent cinema, Conrad Veidt (The Man Who Laughs) made his Ameri