Pola Negri

Often referred to as a vamp, Pola Negri looked the part, and did in fact have great success with her vamp roles in movies such as Carmen (aka Gypsy Blood) in 1918, Sappho in 1921 and Bella Donna in 1923.

In 1925 she starred in A Woman of the World, and played the comedic role of an Italian Countess who flees Europe after the breakup of her latest love affair for the American Midwest. There she toys with men, slinking, drinking, and smoking. Her glamorous, outrageous tattooed self even takes a whip in hand to her leading man.

However, Pola thought herself as the tragedienne rather than a vamp, suffering great perils only to die at the end of the movie.

This is somewhat ironic for Pola's career suffered as well. Many blame the difficult transition from silent films to 'talkies'. This is a much over-played reason for the stall in her films, for Pola's singing of "Paradise" in A Woman Commands (1932) became a huge hit. Like many silent stars, there was a challenging transition, but Pola was too good of an actress to fail. However, there were issues in her personal life.

Having dumped Charlie Chaplin (seeing him for the manipulative and abusive personality he was), Pola hooked up with Rudolph Valentino (Rudy's story is another altogether). Rumored to be engaged, yet with nothing official to make the claim, when Valentino died in 1926, Pola went a bit nuts... Be it grief or grandiose grandstanding, I do not know...

Not only did she announce that they had planned to marry, but she followed the train that carried his body from New York to Los Angeles and posed for photographers at every stop. At his funeral, dressed in an outrageous $13,000 black costume, she shrieked relentlessly and repeatedly fainted. Pola also arranged for a $2,000 bed of red roses with her name POLA spelled out in white roses at the center to be placed on Valentino's coffin.

As if this weren't enough, after the funeral, she continued to make publicity waves. There was the announcement in Photoplay Magazine that Pola was going to erect a glorious marble wedding cake to sit atop his tomb (the confectionery was never built) and the claim she filed against Valentino's estate (for $15,000 with interest) for a money she had lent to Valentino to buy property on which to build a home.

While many of Valentino's friends denounced her "engagement" to Valentino and actions as publicity stunts, Valentino's brother and a few others stood by Pola's claims.

If it was publicity Pola was after, she got it. But if it was more fans, she lost that bet. Her box office draw and fan mail (at least in the US) were hit hard.

Quickly Pola ended up in a 'rebound' marriage to Prince Serge Mdivani. (Her second marriage; the first to a Count.) This only furthure hurt her career in the US. Her two so-called best movies, Barbed Wire, and Hotel Imperial came out at this time, but were not huge box office winners.

Although her films continued to do well internationally, there was The Hollywood Production Code (aka the Hays Code) and The Hays Office. They put the end to her vamp roles, her main draw internationally. But by now it was 1928, and her contract with Paramount was up.

Pola voluntarily chose not to renew this contract. In fact, she retired from films. This because she was now an expectant mother and wanted to devote her life to raising a family.

But Pola miscarried. In her depression she turned to alcohol and it was only at the urging of her mother that she got back into films. Pola then made a very important film, The Woman He Scorned (also known as The Way of Lost Souls and Street of Abandoned Children, the later for a filming location).

Made in 1929, it is considered to be one of her best silent films and certainly one of the best examples of Pola as the tragedienne. It's the story of a young English man who sails to France where he defends a young girl (Pola) who dances in a French port red light district against her pimp/boyfriend. Naturally the girl sees this kindness as something wonderful, and she runs after him, begging him to take her away with him. He does. After traveling stormy seas together, he agrees to marry the poor girl. She in turn tries to adapt to the role as housewife. But just as she begins to settle in and forget her past, the old boyfriend shows up. Wanted for murder and running from the law he forces the young wife to give him shelter. She lies to the police but eventually confesses to her husband, who angrily demands she never see him again. Of course, like most bad-seed ex-boyfriends, he continues to hound her. Soon she is caught helping him and her husband disowns her. Dejected, she gets into the boat her husband had given her for their anniversary and rows herself out to the sea. A storm approaches, convincing you of her fate...

It's hard not to think of her own personal losses while watching this film.

In 1931, more stormy seas for Pola. She was dumped by Prince Sergei after accusing him of mishandling her investments during the stock market crash of 1929. (Her sister-in-law Mae Murray would also be dumped by her Prince David two years later.)

Pola did make more films (for a complete list of Pola Negri films, see IMDB), but none in the US until 1943's Hi Diddle Diddle; Pola returned to her film roots in Germany. In 1932, Pola was promoted as if a new sensation -- or at least a new singing sensation for her performance singing "Paradise" in Forbidden Paradise had become a huge hit. But now Europe had it's own problems: Hitler and the Nazis.

Pola was making films for the UFA (Union Film Alliance) Studios which became under Nazi control. From 1935-1938 she made propaganda films. When propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels suspected Pola was part Jewish, he ordered her barred from the industry. But Hitler was highly enamored of her 1935 film Mazurka and overruled Goebbels decision.

Pola was even linked to Adolph romantically. When questioned about this in a 1936 interview, she said, "Why not? There have been many important men in my life. Valentino, for example." Yet, Pola later successfully sued the French magazine for 10,000 spreading such rumors.

As I mentioned, Pola would eventually return to America and make films, Hi Diddle Diddle in 1943 and The Moon-Spinners, her last film, in 1964.

In 1970 she wrote Memoirs of a Star, which was said to be, upon its release, "true in essence if not in details" by film historian William K. Everson in The New York Times, meaning Everson acknowledged that Pola changed her age, the location of her birth and herself didn't acknowledge some of her films.

She died of pneumonia after struggling a brain tumor for two years (refusing treatment), at the age of 93, on August 1, 1987 in San Antonio, Texas. Her memorabilia archive was left to the Blume Library at St. Mary's University (located in San Antonio, Texas). There, among her papers lies a carbon copy of her typed replies to an unknown journalist's interview questions (seen here, and I confirmed this personally with Brother Robert Wood, the person in charge of Special Collections at the Blume Library, as the quotes seem to good to be true).

The following is taken from that confirmed carbon copy dated 1978:

Your question -- did I introduce sex into films.

Yes, I was correctly quoted in saying I introduced sex into films in the 20's, but it was sex in good taste and left a great deal to one's imagination. For example -- in "Forbidden Paradise" (a filmed satire of Catherine the Great of Russia) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, my favorite director since we started our careers in Berlin on Max Reinhardt's stage -- the Czarina invites her aide-de-camp to visit her in her private budoir (the aide was played by Rod La Roque who was over 6' tall). According to the part he was very stiff and shy during the visit as he had left his fiancee waiting for him in the garden by the goldfish pond. The Czarina was trying to kiss him, but to no avail, as he was much taller and she only reached to his shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a footstool and reached out with her foot to pull it closer, stepped onto the stool and was then the same height as he -- she put her arms around him and kissed him. He responded to the kiss. In the next shot the cameras zoomed to the fiancee who noticed the lights in the Czarina's room go out and the camera then turned to the pond where two goldfish were making love.

Subtle sex suggestives were also used in my other films, including "Woman of the World" directed by Mal. St. Clair and practically all my films I made in Europe in the early days before I signed a contract with Famous Players-Lasky and later Paramount.


Your question on films of today.

The presentation of hard core pornography, brutality and shocking language, from what I hear, is leaving the public jaded and tired of this kind of film. Of course, Hollywood is still making some excellent pictures which reflect the great artistry that made Hollywood famous throughout the world, but these films are exceptions, judging from box office returns and press reviews.

Pola Negri: Some say she's not remembered. They are wrong.

Go here for Pola's childhood and early years and here for more about Pola and the documentary Life is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri.

For films, check Grapevine Video, Sunrise Silents and here.