The Beloved Rogue

John Barrymore sought to out-swashbuckle Douglas Fairbanks in his breathless depiction of France’s rapscallion poet, thief, and vagabond: Francois Villon (1431-1463). He bounds over the snowy rooftops of Paris, scales a castle tower, and is hurled skyward by the royal catapult but this is no mere stunt picture. Barrymore wields a simmering sexuality that endows 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 it’s most ambitious and entertaining. Following a series of star-making performances in Germany, Conrad Veidt (The Hands of Orlac) made his American film debut as the sinister King Louis XI.