The Czarina's Secret
The Czarina's Secret is a 1928 MGM silent fictionalized film short in two-color Technicolor. It was the third short film produced as part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Great Events" series.
| The Czarina's Secret | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | R. William Neill |
| Produced by | Herbert T. Kalmus |
| Written by | Russell Hickson |
| Starring | Olga Baclanova Sally Rand Lucio Flamma David Mir |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | March 17, 1928 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent English Intertitles |
| Budget | $20,068.54[1] |
Production
The film was shot over five days at the Tec-Art Studio in Hollywood.[2] The budget, slightly over $20,000, made it one of the more "higher priced productions" in the "Great Events" series.[3] Cast members Sally Rand and Lucio Flamma had appeared in Technicolor sequences for Cecil B. deMille's The King of Kings less than a year earlier. As with the previous "Great Events" production, The Lady of Victories, The Czarina's Secret made extensive, experimental use of night scenes.[4]
Release
The released version of The Czarina's Secret was well-reviewed, prompting Film Spectator to state that "Technicolor has brought its process to a point of perfection that our big producers can not ignore much longer," and surmising that audience demand for Technicolor would soon be on the increase.[5]
Preservation status
The Czarina's Secret is considered a lost film.[6]
References
- Layton, James and David Pierce. The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935. George Eastman House, 2015, p. 332.
- Layton and Pierce 332
- Slide, Anthony. "The 'Great Events' Series". Silent Topics: Essays on Undocumented Areas of Silent Film. Scarecrow Press, 2005, p. 38.
- Layton and Pierce 189
- Layton and Pierce 192
- Layton and Pierce 332