These theoretical and methodological issues are addressed in the first part of the thesis. The study argues that film adaptations of a text can be regarded as part of its general reception and treated as creative reinterpretations which explore the potential meanings of the original and are anchored in a certain context that they inevitably reflect. The aim of this thesis is to fill in this gap. While the reception of this text in literature has been analyzed in many studies, relatively little attention was paid to the analysis of films based on the book. The carnival-at-night sequence, all barges and fireworks and harlequins, is in colour.Casanova’s memoirs have inspired an incredible number of books, commentaries, and creative reinterpretations. He’s accompanied on his adventure by a blacked up servant boy (used in a comic role reversal with a princess) and returns to Venice as a strolling player who looks like Boy George. Later still, exiled from Venice for practicing the Black Arts and seducing a daughter of one of the Council of Ten (brilliantly lit close-ups), Casanova, bedding down at an inn, removes his beauty spots and, approaching a bedside cross, waves away a ring of women that represent his thoughts. The chiarscuro lighting takes one breath away. We see the girl’s bodies in silhouette behind an elaborately carved screen under which the household servants peer. Later, in a scene to stand with the very best in silent cinema, a ring of dancing girls strip, kicking out their clothes, before an audience of noblemen. It begins with a dissolve-montage of Venice, carefully composed views superimposed over a ring of dancing girls, which dissolves to a close-up of Casanova (Mosjoukine) himself. The film ran into some curious censorship troubles in the U.S., and as result it was retitled Prince of Adventurers, with the main character rechristened as “Roberto Ferrara”! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide Casanova was truly an international production: It was filmed in France but financed and written by Germans, while its star and director were Russians.

Highlights include the spectacular Carnival of Venice sequence and the splendiferous scenes within the palace walls of Czarina Catherine. But when all is said and done, it is the lovely Therese (Jenny Jugo) who captures the protagonist’s heart. Even Russia’s Catherine the Great (Suzanne Bianchetti) briefly falls under Casanova’s spell. The main plot concerns itself with political intrigue, as Casanova travels from Venice to Russia and back again on a variety of “secret missions.” This doesn’t prevent the amorous hero from enjoying the favors of several delectable females. Russian stage star Ivan Mosjoukine plays the title role in this far-from-accurate biopic of legendary Italian lover Casanova.

Casanova 1927 download