John Barrymore

DON JUAN

Warner Bros., 1926.  Directed by Alan Crosland.  Camera:  Byron Haskin.  With John Barrymore, Jane Winton, John Roche, Warner Oland, Estelle Taylor, Montagu Love, Josef Swickard, Willard Louis, Hedda Hopper, Myrna Loy, Mary Astor, Helene Costello, Phyllis Haver, Helen Lee Worthing.

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In the prolog, Don José, warned of his wife's infidelity, seals his wife's lover alive in his hiding place and drives her from the castle.  Abandoned to his lust, he is stabbed by his last mistress.  With his dying words, he implores his son, Juan, to take all from women but yield nothing.

Ten years later, young Don Juan is famous as a lover and pursued by many women, including the powerful Lucretia Borgia, who invites him to her ball.  His contempt for her incites her hatred of Adriana, the daughter of the Duke Della Varnese, with whom he is enraptured.

Lucretia plots to marry her to Donati and poison the duke.  Don Juan intervenes and thwarts the scheme, winning the love of Adriana, but the Borgias declare war on the duke's kinsmen, offering them safety if Adriana marries Donati.

Don Juan is summoned to the wedding, but he prefers death to marriage with Lucretia.  He escapes and kills Donati in a duel.  The lovers are led to the death-tower but, while Adriana pretends suicide, he escapes.  Following a series of battles, he defeats his pursuers and is united with Adriana.

American Film Institute Catalog