PROFILBARU.COM

The Squall
The Squall
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alexander Korda
Written by	Bradley King; Paul Perez
Based on	The Squall (play, 1926) by Jean Bart
Produced by	Ray Rockett
Starring	Myrna Loy; Richard Tucker; Alice Joyce; Loretta Young; Carroll Nye
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Edited by	Edward Schroeder
Music by	Leo F. Forbstein
Production; company	First National Pictures
Distributed by	First National Pictures
Release date	May 9, 1929;
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Squall is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Myrna Loy, Richard Tucker, Alice Joyce and Loretta Young, and based on the 1926 play The Squall by Jean Bart.

Plot

In Hungary, a beautiful, young gypsy girl, Nubi, seeks shelter during a sudden squall. Nubi is given shelter by a well-to-do farmer and his family. The farmer and his family hide the girl when a brutish, older gypsy lover arrives to claim the girl and take her away. The older gypsy leaves, and Nubi is allowed to stay on with the family as a servant. Nubi does little useful work as a servant in the house, and instead proceeds to use her feminine charms to entice and bewitch various male members of the household, leading to many scenes of discord, anger, and jealousy. The spell that Nubi has put on the house is only lifted at the end of the movie when the older gypsy returns, and carries Nubi away—with the farmer and his family no longer willing to offer protection to the troublesome gypsy girl.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Cast

Richard Tucker as Josef Lajos
Alice Joyce as Maria Lajos
Loretta Young as Irma
Carroll Nye as Paul Lajos
ZaSu Pitts as Lena
Harry Cording as Peter
George Hackathorne as Niki
Marcia Harris as Aunt Anna
Knute Erickson as Uncle Dani
Myrna Loy as Nubi
Nicholas Soussanin as El Moro

Production

The film was Korda's first talkie, although his two previous films Night Watch and Love and the Devil had featured sound effects and music as part of the gradual transition from silent to sound film. The film was shot at night at the Burbank studios, as the only sound stage there was used by Warner Brothers during the day.^[4]

Preservation status

The film survives intact with its Vitaphone soundtrack and exists in the Library of Congress and 16mm print survive.^[5] The film has been released to DVDR on the Warner Archive Collection label.

References

^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films:1921–30 by The American Film Institute, c. 1971.
^ The Squall at silentera.com
^ The Squall as produced on Broadway at the 48th Street Theatre, November 11 1926 to December 1927, IBDb.com; accessed August 17, 2015.
^ Kulik, Karol (1990). Alexander Korda: The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Virgin Books. p. 51. ISBN 0870003356. OCLC 1827622.
^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress by The American Film Institute, c. 1978.