DEVIL-MAY-CARE (1929)

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:59 pm

This 1929 MGM film was Ramon Novarro's starring talkie debut and was a hit. The operetta-ish film boasts a few songs sung by Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, and Marion Harris. About two-thirds into the film we are suddenly given a 2-strip Technicolor "Love Ballet" featuring music of Dimitri Tiomkin and dance by the Albertina Rasch group (where the male dancers are actually women). There is a faded clip of this dance on YouTube.... My copy of the film is all B&W. Has this color clip been recently discovered and added back into the film as some recent Warners releases have done? Or has the all B&W copy been the only one available or shown on TCM?

Richard P. May · Post by **Richard P. May** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:32 pm

Ed,

In checking the Technicolor production list for the late 1920s, I can't find any reference to Devil May Care. It is possible that a color section was shot in MultiColor, or some other process.
When MGM did their copying of the nitrate library, they were very meticulous that if there was an existing color section it was duplicated that way. This was done even if the only thing available was part of a studio print. The fact that the TCM copy, which would have come from the MGM library source, is B&W, makes me think any color section turned up in some collector's attic.
I can't find this on You Tube, probably because I'm not using the right title reference. Can you give me the link?

Dick

Jack Theakston · Post by **Jack Theakston** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:07 pm

Trade mentions from the time do seem to indicate Technicolor, and indeed there is a clip on YouTube. By the way, the clip is not faded, but that is typical of how Technicolor transfers to video without proper color correction.

Similarly, MGM's CHILDREN OF PLEASURE from the same period is not indicated in Technicolor's records, but by golly I've held an IB section from it in my hands (which had a stamp from the MGM San Francisco exchange, so it was distributed).

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:16 pm

It's a 3-minute sequence in 2-strip Technicolor from MGM according to Barrios and also in the Soares bio.....

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:19 pm

Ok Jack, thanks for that bit of info... I just assumed it was faded like so many other old colored clips....

It's exactly the same footage as the B&W version in the film.....

radiotelefonia · Post by **radiotelefonia** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:38 pm

Give me the Spanish language version of this film, SEVILLA DE MIS AMORES, and I'll be more than happy!

R Michael Pyle · Post by **R Michael Pyle** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 5:11 am

When TNT showed the film back in the late 80's, early 90's, the color sequence was definitely IN IT! I recorded it and still have it. It's there. I'm really surprised if suddenly TCM is showing an all b & w version??!! In fact, perplexed...

Rick Lanham · Post by **Rick Lanham** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:17 am

I have no idea if TCM has even shown the film, but I have read that everything now shown is stored in computer files.

So if they transfer any film with an unexpected color section, they could have left the color turned off during the process.

Just a possibility. Once upon a time I recorded Topkapi from TV only to discover that they left the color off until part-way through. (not TCM)

Rick

BixB · Post by **BixB** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:58 am

My copy of DEVIL MAY CARE is from a TCM broadcast and the color sequence is intact.

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:36 am

My copy has no TCM logo or any kind of logo..... So it got taped off some other channel. I don't imagine the film was ever released on VHS or DVD anywhere...

Harold Aherne · Post by **Harold Aherne** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:16 pm

radiotelefonia wrote:Give me the Spanish language version of this film, SEVILLA DE MIS AMORES, and I'll be more than happy!

This is actually Call of the Flesh, no? That one had a Technicolor sequence too, but in A Song in the Dark Barrios says that it's lost and replaced by an alternate B&W number in current prints. It was also one of Renée Adorée's two talkies and her last film.

Has Ramon Novarro ever been star of the month on TCM? If not, he deserves to be.

-Harold

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:33 pm

The Soares bio of Novarro says Call of the Flesh was his biggest box office hit for MGM since Ben-Hur and MGM's most profitable 1930 film internationally.

moviepas · Post by **moviepas** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:46 pm

Richard I found this clip but not using the name. I looked up Ramon and along side the piece I picked there was a list of items to copy and at the bottom that title was there and I got about 2.16mins. There was a number of homosexual clips listed on Ramon site. Indexing can be funny on You Tube.

earlytalkiebuffRob · Post by **earlytalkiebuffRob** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:30 pm

DEVIL-MAY-CARE is on YT. Not as good a copy as I saw back at London's NFT in 1980, but decent enough, and with the Technicolor which was missing then.

IA · Post by IA » Fri Sep 30, 2016 6:19 pm

earlytalkiebuffRob wrote:DEVIL-MAY-CARE is on YT. Not as good a copy as I saw back at London's NFT in 1980, but decent enough, and with the Technicolor which was missing then.

Devil May Care was also released on a Warner Archive DVD last year:
https://www.amazon.com/Devil-May-Care-R ... 017GEWFW8/
I haven't viewed this version, so I can't comment on the color.

DEVIL-MAY-CARE (1929)

DEVIL-MAY-CARE (1929)

Devil May Care

Re: DEVIL-MAY-CARE (1929)

Re: DEVIL-MAY-CARE (1929)