Bardelys the Magnificent

Bardelys is a handsome courtier who believes he can win any woman he sets his mind to. What is more, he does not mind saying so to anyone who will listen. Because of a wager he sets out to win a woman named Roxalanne. But as it goes on he falls into his own game. The work is adapted from a novel by Rafael Sabatini. The film’s own story is striking too: in 1936 the studio did not renew the rights to the novel and, under the terms of the contract, destroyed the negative and all known prints. The film was long counted as lost. In 2006 an almost complete print was found in France, and the missing reel was filled in with stills and trailer footage. John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman appear in King Vidor’s ninety minute American film, completed in 1926.