Torrent (1926 film)

Silent romantic drama by Monta Bell

Torrent

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Monta Bell (uncredited)
Written by| Dorothy Farnum (adaptation)
Based on| Entre Naranjos
1900? novella
by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Produced by| Irving Thalberg[1]
Starring| Ricardo Cortez
Greta Garbo
Cinematography| William H. Daniels
Edited by| Frank Sullivan
Music by| Arthur Barrow
Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* February 21, 1926 (1926-02-21)

Running time

| 87 minutes
Country| United States
Language| Silent (English intertitles)
Budget| $250,443.27[2]

Torrent is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by an uncredited Monta Bell, based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, and released on February 21, 1926.[1][3][4][5] Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo.[6][7] The film also starred Ricardo Cortez and Martha Mattox.

The title refers to a flood that occurs in the small town where most of the action takes place, which draws the two romantic leading characters closer together.

Torrent (1926)

## Plot

[edit]

As described in a film magazine review,[8] Donna Brull is opposed to her son Rafael marrying the peasant Leonora, a poor young Spanish woman. She leaves the small town and goes to Paris where she becomes a famous opera singer. Later, she visits her home, where Rafael saves her and Remedios, the young woman he is engaged to, from drowning in a flood. Eight years pass and Leonora and Rafael, who is now married, meet again. Although she still loves him, she resumes her operatic career and Rafael remains with his wife.

## Cast

[edit]

Publicity still for the film with Garbo and Cortez.

* Ricardo Cortez as Don Rafael Brull
* Greta Garbo as Leonora Moreno, aka La Brunna
* Gertrude Olmstead as Remedios Matías
* Edward Connelly as Pedro Moreno
* Lucien Littlefield as Cupido, the Barber
* Martha Mattox as Doña Bernarda Brull
* Lucy Beaumont as Doña Pepa Moreno
* Tully Marshall as Don Andrés, a Lawyer
* Mack Swain as Don Matías
* Arthur Edmund Carewe as Salvatti (as Arthur Edmund Carew)
* Lillian Leighton as Isabella, La Brunna's Maid
* Mario Carillo as King of Spain (uncredited)
* André Cheron as Man in Audience (uncredited)
* Dorothy Sebastian as Woman in Audience (uncredited)

## Reception

[edit]

MGM was uncertain about how to cast Garbo after her arrival in Hollywood. In Torrent, her first American film, she was cast as Leonora, a young Spanish peasant woman, and MGM was pleased with the results. Variety reviewed the film and described Garbo in her debut as " a girl with everything, looks, acting ability and personality". The film grossed $460,000 in the USA and $208,000 internationally, it grossed $668,000 worldwide, netting a $126,000 profit for MGM.[9] Louis B. Mayer's initial instinct about the actress's ability paid off, and the film was a success.[10] Torrent was released on DVD in 2011 as part of the Warner Archive Collection.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Fleming, E. J. (January 2009). Paul Bern: the Life and Famous Death of the MGM Director and Husband of Harlow. McFarland. p. 325\. ISBN 978-0-7864-3963-8. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
2. ^ Alexander Walker; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (October 1980). Garbo: a Portrait. Macmillan. p. 183\. ISBN 978-0-02-622950-0. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
3. ^ John Reid (April 2006). Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic. Lulu.com. p. 196\. ISBN 978-1-4116-8915-2. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
4. ^ Jacobs, Lea (April 2, 2008). The Decline of Sentiment: American Film in the 1920s. University of California Press. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-520-25457-2. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
5. ^ American Film Institute (1971). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. University of California Press. p. 823\. ISBN 978-0-520-20969-5. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
6. ^ Borrelli, Laird. "Greta Garbo". Style.com. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
7. ^ Motion Picture News (March 13, 1926). Motion Picture News (Mar - Apr 1926). New York The Museum of Modern Art Library. New York, Motion Picture News. p. 204.
8. ^ Pardy, George T. (March 6, 1926), "Pre-Release Review of Features: Ibáñez's Torrent", Motion Picture News, 33 (10), New York City, New York: Motion Picture News, Inc.: 1111, retrieved March 31, 2023 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
9. ^ "The Torrent".
10. ^ "Greta Garbo – The Ultimate Star – The Torrent". home.hiwaay.net. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2010.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torrent (1926 film).

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Torrent (film)

* Torrent at IMDb
* Torrent at the TCM Movie Database
* Torrent at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Classic Film Guide
* Cine Web
* Stills at silenthollywood.com

* v
* t
* e

Irving Thalberg

Producer|

* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
* Merry-Go-Round (1923)
* His Hour (1924)
* He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
* The Unholy Three (1925)
* The Merry Widow (1925)
* The Tower of Lies (1925)
* The Big Parade (1925)
* Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
* Torrent (1926)
* La Bohème (1926)
* Brown of Harvard (1926)
* The Road to Mandalay (1926)
* The Temptress (1926)
* Valencia (1926)
* Flesh and the Devil (1926)
* Twelve Miles Out (1927)
* The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927)
* London After Midnight (1927)
* The Crowd (1928)
* Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
* White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)
* Show People (1928)
* West of Zanzibar (1928)
* The Broadway Melody (1929)
* The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929)
* Voice of the City (1929)
* Where East Is East (1929)
* The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929)
* The Hollywood Revue (1929)
* Hallelujah (1929)
* His Glorious Night (1929)
* The Kiss (1929)
* Anna Christie (1930)
* Redemption (1930)
* The Divorcee (1930)
* The Rogue Song (1930)
* The Big House (1930)
* The Unholy Three (1930)
* Let Us Be Gay (1930)
* Billy the Kid (1930)
* Way for a Sailor (1930)
* A Lady's Morals (1930)
* Inspiration (1931)
* Trader Horn (1931)
* The Secret Six (1931)
* A Free Soul (1931)
* Just a Gigolo (1931)
* The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)
* The Guardsman (1931)
* The Champ (1931)
* Possessed (1931)
* Private Lives (1931)
* Mata Hari (1931)
* Freaks (1932)
* Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
* Grand Hotel (1932)
* Letty Lynton (1932)
* As You Desire Me (1932)
* Red-Headed Woman (1932)
* Smilin' Through (1932)
* Red Dust (1932)
* Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
* Strange Interlude (1932)
* Tugboat Annie (1933)
* Bombshell (1933)
* Eskimo (1933)
* Riptide (1934)
* The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
* The Merry Widow (1934)
* What Every Woman Knows (1934)
* No More Ladies (1935)
* China Seas (1935)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* A Night at the Opera (1935)
* Riffraff (1936)
* Romeo and Juliet (1936)
* Camille (1936)
* Maytime (1937)
* A Day at the Races (1937)
* Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
* The Good Earth (1937)
* Marie Antoinette (1938)

Writer|

* The Trap (1922)

People|

* Norma Shearer (wife)
* Irving Thalberg Jr. (son)

Related|

* The Last Tycoon

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Monta Bell

* How to Educate a Wife (1924)
* Broadway After Dark (1924)
* The Snob (1924)
* Lady of the Night (1925)
* Pretty Ladies (1925)
* The King on Main Street (1925)
* Lights of Old Broadway (1925)
* Torrent (1926)
* The Boy Friend (1926)
* Upstage (1926)
* After Midnight (1927)
* Man, Woman and Sin (1927)
* The Bellamy Trial (1929)
* Young Man of Manhattan (1930)
* East Is West (1930)
* Up for Murder (1931)
* Personal Maid (1931)
* Downstairs (1932)
* The Worst Woman in Paris? (1933)
* China's Little Devils (1945)

* v
* t
* e

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

Novels|

* The Shack (1898)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1916)

Adaptations|

* Blood and Sand (1916)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
* Blood and Sand (1922)
* Enemies of Women (1923)
* Argentine Love (1924)
* Circe, the Enchantress (1924)
* Mare Nostrum (1926)
* The Temptress (1926)
* Torrent (1926)
* Wine Cellars (1930)
* Blood and Sand (1941)
* The Shack (1945)
* Mare Nostrum (1948)
* Beyond All Limits (1959)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
* Cañas y barro (1978)
* La barraca (1979)
* Blood and Sand (1989)
* Arroz y tartana (2003)

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