| Kismet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John Francis Dillon |
| Written by | Howard Estabrook |
| Based on | Kismet 1911 play byEdward Knoblock |
| Produced by | Robert North |
| Starring | Otis Skinner Loretta Young David Manners Sidney Blackmer |
| Cinematography | John F. Seitz |
| Edited by | Alexander Hall |
| Music by | Leon Rosebrook Edward Ward |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $611,000[1] |
| Box office | $462,000[1] |
Kismet is a 1930 Americanpre-Codecostume drama film photographed entirely in an earlywidescreen process using65mm film thatWarner Bros. calledVitascope. The film, now consideredlost,[2] was based onEdward Knoblock's playKismet, and was previously filmed as asilent film in1920 which also starredOtis Skinner.
Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.
Warner Bros. spared no expense in making this picture. They spent $600,000 in producing it, and the extravagance of the film was noted by every reviewer. The film played in ten cities across the United States in the wide-screenVitascope (65mm) version, while the rest of the country (which did not yet have theaters capable of playing widescreen films) were provided with standard 35mm prints.[3] Otis Skinner was 73 years old while lead actress Loretta Young was 17 years old.
According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $315,000 domestic and $147,000 foreign.[1]
The enormous amount of pre-Code content (especially in the sequences in the harem) has probably contributed to the film's "lost" status.
Two remakes, both in color, were made of the film, one in 1944 and the other in 1955. The 1955 version was an adaptation of thehit Broadway musical based on the play. Some sources claim that the original 1930 film featuredTechnicolor sequences. The film is consideredlost, while the complete soundtrack of the film survives onVitaphone disks.[4] An outtake of the production does exist and can be seen.[5]
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Oneforeign-language version of the 1930 version ofKismet was made. The German version, also titledKismet, was directed byWilliam Dieterle, and was released in 1931.[6] It starredGustav Fröhlich,Dita Parlo andVladimir Sokoloff.[7][8]