Pola Negri (The Wildcat) was already an international star. Antonio Moreno (The Searchers) was her equal in terms of talent and sex appeal. The director Herbert Brenon (Beau Geste) was one of the greatest directors of his day and he was assisted by his cinematographer, James Wong Howe (Hud). Together, they created one of the great romance epics of the silent era. Restored by Eye Filmmuseum, The Spanish Dancer (1923) is a joy to behold. The film is action-packed, witty, and romantic with huge sets and a cast of thousands. Brenon keeps the adventure going full steam ahead while Negri and Moreno show why they were huge stars of their day. Includes a new orchestral score by Bill Ware!

For thoughts on The Spanish Dancer, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/mpIRV9Y4wVs?si=qQ_7wcSXoOpP853p&t=3859]

Video Quality

The Spanish Dancer makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Milestone Films with a rich transfer from a restoration that required four different sources: a tinted-and-toned 35mm nitrate print from the Eye Filmmuseum, a black-and-white 35mm nitrate print from the Belgium Cinematheque, a 16mm print from Photoplay Productions in London and a 16mm print courtesy of Lobster Films. With these dogged restoration efforts, 95% of the footage indicated in the shooting script has been able to be preserved and given a transfer that is quite impressive. For a film that is celebrating its 100th anniversary, this is a truly wonderful presentation.

The gorgeous color-tinted photography shimmers in high definition with natural grain intact. There is an agreeable amount of detail present with nice textures on the opulent clothing and within the setting. The contrast is pretty firmly defined, but the transfer still experiences some amount of flicker and specks of damage to the print. There are also stray, faint vertical lines and small stretches of more intensive damage that make a quick appearance without ruining the overall aesthetic of the film. The transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. Black levels present with some good depth with no overwhelming occurrence of black crush or compression artifacts. Milestone Films has done some marvelous work given the age of this feature.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray presents the film with both a DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio track which represents this one well. The film is graced with a new score from Bill Ware which is quite intense and at times a bit overwhelming. As this is a silent film, the music is the only element to contend with in this track, and it sounds robust and lively with no clipping or age related wear and tear. Classic film fans should be pleased with the sound quality of these tracks, as it certainly commands your attention throughout.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Film historian Scott Eyman provides a very enlightening commentary track in which he discusses the preservation efforts for this film, how this feature fares as a feat of adaptation, the background of the performers, the Hollywood system during this silent era and more.

Interview with Composer Bill Ware: A 22-minute interview with the composer in which he discusses how he approached scoring this film, how he suited sounds to different characters, weaving in history to his sounds and more.

Restoration Demonstration: A two-minute demonstration is provided which shows you how the film was restored to this great transfer we have on this disc.

Final Thoughts

The Spanish Dancer is a pretty decent adventure film replete with intrigue and double crosses. Even with all of the court intrigue, there is not much that completely demands your attention for the entirety of the film. The production side of the equation is tremendous with huge sets, detailed costumes and complicated action sequences. The narrative just tends to be pretty dull with the performers doing everything in their powers to elevate it to something special. They succeed some of the time, but overall this does not stand out as a major gem of the silent era. Milestone Films has released a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty wonderful A/V presentation and a lovely assortment of special features. If you are a fan of the era, this is a great restoration effort.

The Spanish Dancer is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics and Milestone Films have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.