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Fragmented Pieces: Writing the History of the Lost Hollywood Films 101
Christine Johnston, was based on Alphonse Daudet’s novel Kings in Exile (Les
rois en exil, 1879). The change of the narrative perspective from king to queen is
worth noting. The film stands in interesting contrast to Sjöström’s previous success;
neither the critics nor the audience liked it. Bengt Forslund speculates on
the possibility that the film might originally have been intended for Rex Ingram
to direct, as his wife, Alice Terry, as well as Lewis Stone, who both starred in
Ingram’s Scaramouche (1923), produced by Metro, also play the leading roles
in this film. 12
The plot is simple: King Christian of Illyria (Lewis Stone) leads a decadent
life. He has married the princess from a neighbouring kingdom (Alice Terry),
but he cares more for his mistress Sephora (Helena d’Algy) than for his country
or for his wife. The queen in turn is courted by the king’s cousin, Prince Alexei
(John Bowers). The king’s behaviour leads to revolution. The king is willing to
abdicate, but his wife refuses, and they both flee to Paris. Here, however, he
discovers that he really cares for his wife after all. His life is put in danger as his
mistress turns out to be in league with the revolutionaries. As he abdicates in
favour of his son, the couple remain united.
This film in several respects is less elaborate than the director’s other Hollywood
films. This may partly have been due to the film being produced in such
haste, but probably partly also to the previously mentioned fact that he, as a
director, to a large extent seems to have chosen to subordinate his wishes to the
demands of the script which was, in this case, a straightforward, realist story.
However, adapting to the Hollywood system with its normally very strict division
of labour between scriptwriter and director also seems to have been difficult
for Sjöström (perhaps particularly so after having worked himself as scriptwriter
for He Who Gets Slapped), as a letter to writer – and former Sjöström
scriptwriter, with whom he had worked in close collaboration during the Swedish
years – Hjalmar Bergman about Confessions of a Queen (1925) and the
script for his next film The Tower of Lies (1925) indicates:
In any case, I may delight your false heart with the news that I have made a bad film
since I last wrote to you. At least, so I’m afraid. But it isn’t all that easy, I must say, as
there are so many things to take into consideration, and the limitations so sharp. My
desire to quit this job becomes stronger from day to day. For the moment, I am in the
midst of searching for a new film subject. Selma Lagerlöf’s “The Emperor of Portugallia”
has been brought up, but I still don’t know what will become of this idea. I’m
afraid there will be so many changes –“in order to suit the American audience” –
that nothing will be left of the book, as in my last film. 13
This letter, however, should perhaps not be interpreted literally. It seems plausible
that it may voice Sjöström’s scruples, having refused to shoot a Hjalmar
Bergman script which, in turn, led to his leaving Hollywood. Still, in addition