Bella Donna (1934)
That old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was resurrected by Britain's Twickenham Studios in 1934. Conrad Veidt stars as sinister Egyptian Mahmoud Baroundi, who even before the film gets under way has left a long trail of ruined women behind him. His latest victim is American girl Mona Chepstow (Mary Ellis), whom Baroundi treats like dirt and makes her like it. The plot centers around a murder by poison, as evidenced by the film's deliberately exotic title. Critics in 1934 praised newcomer Mary Ellis for underplaying her role, but many film fans preferred Nazimova's arm-waving histrionics in the earlier version.
- Date of release
- 1934-12-11
- TMDB
- 3.8 / 10 (4)
- Runtime
- 1h 31m
- Genres
- Drama
- Director
- Robert Milton
Casting
- Mary Ellis — Mary Chepstow Amine
- John Stuart — Nigel Armine
- Cedric Hardwicke — Dr. Meyer Isaacson
- Conrad Veidt — Mahmoud Baroudi
- Jeanne Stuart — Lady Zoe Harwich
- Rodney Millington — Ibrahim Achmed
- Eve South — The Dancing Girl
- Michael Shepley — Dr. Baring-Hartley
Interesting facts
Bella Donna is a 1934 British drama film directed by Robert Milton and starring Conrad Veidt, Mary Ellis and Cedric Hardwicke. It was written by Vera Allinson and H. Fowler Mear based on the 1911 play by James B. Fagan, itself based on the 1909 novel Bella Donna by Robert Hichens, which had previously been made into a 1923 American silent film Bella Donna starring Pola Negri. A further American adaptation Temptation starring Merle Oberon was produced in 1946.
Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.
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