Madame Butterfly (1915 film)
5.6 /10 1 Votes
Director Sidney Olcott Country United States | 5.5/10 IMDb Genre Drama Distributor Paramount Pictures | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cast Mary Pickford Language Silent film
English intertitles Release date November 7, 1915 Writer John Luther Long (novel) People also search for For Irelands Sake, Nan O the Backwoods Genres Silent film, Drama, Black-and-white | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alberta ballet s madame butterfly
Madame Butterfly is a 1915 silent film directed by Sidney Olcott. The film is based upon a John Luther Long short story and the opera Madama Butterfly.
Contents
- Alberta ballet s madame butterfly
- Madame butterfly 1915 mary pickford lost silent film
- Production
- Plot
- Cast
- DVD release
- References
Madame butterfly 1915 mary pickford lost silent film
Production
Reportedly, leading actress Mary Pickford fought constantly with Sidney Olcott about the character. Olcott wanted Pickford to be more reserved and thought she was "too Americanized to play a Japanese".
Plot
The film takes place in Japan in 1904. Lieutenant Pinkerton (Marshall Neilan) marries Cho-Cho-San 'Butterfly' (Mary Pickford), a 15-year-old Japanese geisha. Cho-Cho-San is lucky with her new husband and takes the marriage very seriously. Pinkterton, however, regards it as entertainment. He is not in love with her and plans to break off the wedding in a month. The American Consul (William T. Carleton) begs him to break off the wedding as soon as possible, to avoid hurting her feelings. The lieutenant laughs him off.
After Pinkerton forces Cho-Cho-San to end their wedding reception early, her disapproving family disowns her. When Pinkerton is ordered to return to America, he promises Cho-Cho-San he will return before he leaves. Three years go by. Cho-Cho-San, now a mother, still believes Pinkerton will return someday, while he is engaged to an American woman. He sends her a letter to announce he will marry another woman, but Cho-Cho-San can't read.
Meanwhile, The Prince of Japan (David Burton) takes interest in Cho-Cho-San, but she refuses his company and claims she is still waiting for her husband. Sometime later, Pinkerton returns to Japan but he hands the American Consul some money as compensation for Cho-Cho-San and leaves again. When Cho-Cho-San comes to ask about her husband, she runs into Pinkerton's new American wife. The American woman asks Cho-Cho-San to give them her child, as he will be given better opportunities and prosperity under their parenting. Cho-Cho-San is crushed but complies and hands over her child. She kills herself in the final scene by walking into a river and drowning.
Cast
DVD release
Madame Butterfly was released on Region 0 DVD-R by Alpha Video on July 7, 2015.
References
Madame Butterfly (1915 film) WikipediaMadame Butterfly (1915 film) IMDbMadame Butterfly (1915 film) themoviedb.org