TEMPEST
Starring John Barrymore and Camilla Horn
PHOTOPLAY
June, 1928
Camilla Horn, making her initial bow in an American film, is the most interesting item about this picture.
For Miss Horn, the German actress who played Marguerite in Faust in Europe displays, in addition to her amazing beauty, a histrionic ability which promises to offer keen competition to both Greta Garbo and Vilma Banky. A decided blonde with perfect classical features and slanting brown eyes which are fathomless in their subtle shadings of emotions, she all but steals the picture.
The interpretations of the entire cast are consistently splendid. Although John Barrymore does excellent work which should do much to further his motion picture ambitions, it is in no way the star's picture. Louis Wolheim, George Fawcett and Ulrich Haupt are equally capable in their supporting positions.
The story is an interesting picture of the overthrow of the Russian monarchy by the Red Revolution. The production was started by the Russian director Tourjansky, aided by Lewis Milestone, and finally was directed by Sam Taylor. Although there is some slow action, taken as a whole it is a credit to the man who finally megaphoned it.
John Barrymore is a peasant, Camilla Horn is a princess. At their first meeting she whips him - yet for some hidden feminine reason fails to report him to her father for a seeming effrontery. The conflict of class hatred and inward yearning for this man of lowly birth gives her the opportunity to display an unusual amount of emotion. The revolution reverses their positions. By all means, see the picture.