Omar Khayyam (silent film)

American film

Omar Khayam

Newspaper illustration

Directed by| Ferdinand P. Earle, jun.
Based on| Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Omar Khayyam (Edward Fitzgerald rendition)
Starring| Ramon Novarro
Kathleen Key
Country| United States
Language| Silent

Omar Khayam is an American silent movie. It was widely distributed in Australia in 1923, where it was praised for its imaginative technical effects. It bears many similarities to the lost film A Lover's Oath, which was made in 1921 but not released until 1925.

## Plot[edit]

The story, through which many images of Persian life and thought are interspersed, concerns three boyhood friends, Omar, Nizam and Hassan, who made a solemn pact that whichever became successful would share his good fortune with the others. Nizam grew to become ruler of the country, and assisted Omar in his studies. Hassan became a scheming scoundrel whose lusting after the beautiful Shirin was cut short by his clever wife.[1] The film concludes with the lovers "beneath the boughs".[2]

The film includes many scenes relating to verses from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, including the market places, the Sultan and his courtiers, the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, the crowd clamoring at the tavern door, the potter molding his wet clay, gardens ablaze with roses, ruined temples and palaces, Heaven and Hell. Images of astronomical phenomena were especially praised.[3] The film opened at Hoyts' cinemas in Sydney ("Australia" and "Apollo" theatres) on 17 February and Melbourne ("De Luxe") on 24 February 1923.[4]

## Cast[edit]

* Frederick Warde as Omar
* Edwin Stevens as Hassan
* Paul Weigel as Sheik Rustan
* B. Post (perhaps Guy Bates Post) as the Vizier[a]
* Kathleen Key as Shirin, daughter of the Sheik
* Ramon Novarro (often cited as Raymond Navarro) as her lover[1]

"and a cast of over 7,000 people"

Director was Ferdinand P. Earle, jun.[6]

The film was presented throughout Australia by E. R. Chambers and E. O. Gurney of "Selected Super Films (Australasia Ltd)".[7] Gurney has elsewhere been mentioned as an Australian film director who, like John Farrow left for Hollywood.[8]

The film was then taken to Hobart's Strand theatre[9] and to Adelaide, where it was shown at the Town Hall and hailed as a "masterpiece" and the "last word in artistic achievement of motion picture history".[10] It went on to regional Victoria and New South Wales, where it was universally well received — "the picture magnificent, which no-one should miss"[11] It reached Perth in September.[12]

* Scene from Omar Khayam

* Scene from Omar Khayam

* Scene from Omar Khayam

* Scene from Omar Khayam

## Omar the Tentmaker[edit]

Richard Walton Tully's play Omar the Tentmaker, depicting illicit love in the harems, was in 1921 made into a film, directed by its author,[13][14] and starring Virginia Brown Faire and Guy Bates Post. It was shown in Australia around the same time as Omar Khayyam.[15] Australian publicity for the film referenced FitzGerald's Rubaiyat,[16] though descriptions of the film seem remote from the poetry, or the life, of the historic Omar Khayyam, who despite his surname (which means "tentmaker"),[17] was a renowned astronomer and mathematician.

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ One critic, who saw the film in Chicago, remembers Guy Bates Post as an awkward and poorly cast Omar.[5]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Screen Fantasy". The Sun (Sydney). No. 1038\. New South Wales, Australia. 18 February 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
2. ^ "Omar Khayyam". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 26, 546. New South Wales, Australia. 3 February 1923. p. 14. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
3. ^ "Screen Stories". The Sun (Sydney). No. 3836\. New South Wales, Australia. 16 February 1923. p. 10. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
4. ^ "Omar Khayyam at Hoyts'". Table Talk. No. 1959\. Victoria, Australia. 22 February 1923. p. 36. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
5. ^ "That Reminds Me". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XXIII, no. 2\. New South Wales, Australia. 8 March 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 27 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ ""Omar Khayyam"". Gilgandra Weekly. Vol. 13, no. 18\. New South Wales, Australia. 17 May 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
7. ^ "A Picture of Persian Splendor and Romance in Desert and City". Table Talk. No. 1959\. Victoria, Australia. 22 February 1923. p. 26. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia. An illustrated article
8. ^ "Brains Enhances Her Pulchritude: Beautiful Australian Girl Arrives. Antipodean Prize Winner Comes to Woo Fame as Picture Actress". Los Angeles Times. 14 June 1927. p. A8.
9. ^ "Mysteries of the Orient". The Critic (Hobart). Vol. XVII, no. 920\. Tasmania, Australia. 11 May 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
10. ^ "Omar Khayyam at Town Hall". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXXVIII, no. 25, 670. South Australia. 11 May 1923. p. 12. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
11. ^ "Entertainments". Geelong Advertiser. No. 23, 718. Victoria, Australia. 8 June 1923. p. 5. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
12. ^ "Advertising". The West Australian. Vol. XXXIX, no. 6, 650. Western Australia. 17 September 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
13. ^ "Novelist Producers". The World's News. No. 1044\. New South Wales, Australia. 17 December 1921. p. 5. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
14. ^ "The Silver Screen". South Western Times. Vol. VI, no. 95\. Western Australia. 11 August 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
15. ^ "Friday". South Western Times. Vol. VI, no. 97\. Western Australia. 16 August 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 23 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
16. ^ "Advertising". Geraldton Guardian. Vol. XVI, no. 4218\. Western Australia. 11 September 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 28 January 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
17. ^ J. A. Boyle (1969). "Omar Khayyam: astronomer, mathematician, and poet". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library (52(1)): 30–45.