If there was one thing that Don Juan de Marana learned from his father Don Jose, it was that women gave you three things - life, disillusionment and death. In his father's case it was his wife, Donna Isobel, and Donna Elvira who supplied the latter. Don Juan settled in Rome after attending the University of Pisa. Rome was run by the tyrannical Borgia family consisting of Caesar, Lucrezia and the Count Donati. Juan has his way with and was pursued by many women, but it is the one that he could not have that haunts him. It will be for her that he suffers the wrath of Borgia for ignoring Lucrezia and then killing Count Donati in a duel. For Adriana, they will both be condemned to death in the prison on the river Tigre.
Acting
Barrymore's dual role showcases silent-era theatricality at its peak.
Production
Massive sets and crowd scenes that Warner Bros. poured money into.
Costume
Renaissance opulence so extra it nearly distracts from the plot.
Director
Alan Crosland
John Barrymore
Don Jose de Marana / Don Juan de Marana
Jane Winton
Donna Isobel
John Roche
Leandro
Warner Oland
Cesare Borgia
Estelle Taylor
Lucrezia Borgia
Montagu Love
Count Giano Donati
Josef Swickard
Duke Della Varnese
Willard Louis
Pedrillo
Nigel De Brulier
Marchese Rinaldo
Hedda Hopper
Marchesia Rinaldo
Myrna Loy
Mai - Lady in Waiting
Mary Astor
Adriana della Varnese
Lionel Braham
Duke Margoni (uncredited)
Helene Costello
Rena - Adriana's Maid (uncredited)
Helena D'Algy
Donna Elvira (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Warner Bros.' most expensive production to date and featured the first synchronized Vitaphone score — not a talkie, but the bridge to one.
Barrymore was notoriously drunk throughout filming, yet his performance remains electrifying — Hollywood myth-making in real time.
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