When Knighthood Was In Flower
Joseph Urban
When Knighthood Was In Flower
Watercolor and pencil drawing for Inn Scene
Joseph Urban Collection Box 27.11
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Click here for item information "When Knighthood Was In Flower" was Cosmopolitan Productions Number 35. The 12-reel film is held by the Library of Congress and has been restored and released on DVD.
Directed by Robert G. Vignola, it was based on a novel by Charles Major and a play by Paul Kester, with scenario by Luther Reed. For the New York premier on September 14, 1922, given at the Criterion Theatre, Hearst commissioned Victor Herbert to write two songs: "The When Knighthood Was in Flower Waltz" and "The Marion Davies March."
Mary Tudor (Marion Davies) is forced by her brother Henry VIII (Lyn Harding) to marry Louis XII (William Norris) as part of a peace agreement with France, but she falls in love with Charles Brandon (Forest Stanley). Mary flees with him, but the two lovers are captured.
Brandon is framed for murder and Mary agrees to marry Louis XII if Brandon's life is spared. Brandon is exiled and Louis XII, old and sick, dies shortly after the wedding. After an attempt on the part of Louis XII's nephew Francis I (William Powell) to wed Mary, she finally marries Brandon.
From the review in The New York Times at the premier: "And although you may have your doubts about the historicity of the story, you are bound to be impressed by the authenticity of the settings. Surely Joseph Urban, who is responsible for them, has been true as well as magnificent. His scenes are splendid or simple, according to the character they should have, and, while they often impress the eye by their size and finished composition, they never seem present merely to be impressive. They are part of the story, and they are untimately successful in enriching it. Much of the credit for the film goes to Mr. Urban therefore."
A few of Urban's drawings exist for this film, including this one of the Inn Scene. Also shown are two shots of the cast featuring Marion Davies and Forest Stanley, her guardsman lover.
The costumes were designed by Urban's daughter, Gretl Urban, credited as Gretl Urban Thurlow.
For this film based on actual history, Urban created the first of his Reference Scrapbooks, Joseph Urban Collection Box C9.
Joseph Urban
When Knighthood Was In Flower
Watercolor and pencil drawing for Entranceway
Urban Collection Box 27.11
Click here for item information This drawing of a rustic portal is another of the very few actual drawings for Urban's film work that exist in his archive.
Urban cannot be given all the credit for "When Knighthood Was In Flower," since many of the exteriors were shot at Windsor Castle in England.
The film alone reportedly cost Hearst $1,500,000. In addition, Variety reported that Hearst launched "the most expensive and extensive campaign that has ever been organized for anything theatrical," including 650 billboards in New York, 300 subway advertising placards, and special booths in department stores that sold souvenir books. There were so many electric signs in Times Square that Will Rogers quipped that Davies's next film would be titled "When Electric Light Was in Power."
As noted above, and a factor in the great expense is that at 12 reels, this film was twice as long as the preceding Cosmopolitan Productions films had been.
Shown here is Urban's set for Mary's Boudoir in France, along with a photograph of Marion Davies in costume on set after she has been married to the aged Louis XII.