Vintage original 8 x 10 in. US single-weight glossy photograph from the 1920s silent film drama/romance, LOVERS, released in 1927 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and directed by John M. Stahl.The image depicts handsome José (Ramon Novarro) as he greets Felicia (Alice Terry) on an exterior deck of an ocean liner. It is in fine+ condition.
*"Lovers or Lovers? is a 1927 silent film romance drama produced and distributed by MGM and directed by John M. Stahl. It stars Ramon Novarro and Alice Terry. It is based on the 1908 play The World and His Wife and is a remake of a 1920 silent of the same name from Paramount. Lovers is a lost film.
The scenario was based on the 1881 play, El Gran Galeoto by José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, and the 1908 English-language version, The World and His Wife, translated and adapted by Frederic Nordlinger. The 14 June 1926 Los Angeles Times reported that the play was performed two days earlier under the title, The Great Galeoto, at the Writers’ Club in Los Angeles, CA. It was also noted that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. (M-G-M) was planning a screen version starring Ramon Novarro.
Principal photography began approximately six weeks later at M-G-M Studios in Culver City, CA, as reported in the 28 August 1926 Los Angeles Times. The 19 September 1926 edition noted that the film marked the fifth screen pairing of Novarro with leading lady Alice Terry. An item in the December 1926 Motion Picture revealed that Terry was working in Europe at the time but sailed for the U.S. after receiving a telegram from Novarro, declaring that he had an ideal role for her. Their characters were identified as “Teodora,” and “Ernesto,” although several other sources refer to them as “Felicia” and “José.”
On 6 October 1926, the Los Angeles Times reported that production was halted for at least one week while Novarro recovered from an “intestinal flu.” The 14 October 1926 New York Daily News added that the delay was costing M-G-M $2,000 per day, while postponing Alice Terry’s next picture, The Garden of Allah (1927). It was later revealed in the 2010 biography, "Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro" by André Soares, that the actor was suffering from a serious case of food poisoning and had a fever of 105 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the illness subsided quickly and Novarro returned to the studio within a week.
Articles in the 14 October 1926 and 9 November 1926 Los Angeles Evening Post-Record stated that co-star John Miljan sustained a black eye while taking fencing lessons for the film, but he was also given eight additional scenes. At the time, he was working nights in the Warner Bros. production, Wolf’s Clothing (1927), and by day in The Great Galeoto. The latter film’s official title was announced as Lovers in the 17 December 1926 Film Mercury. Although the U.S. Copyright Catalog lists the film as Lovers?, contemporary reviews and advertising omitted the question mark.
The feature was released on 9 April 1927 and received a scathing review in that day’s edition of the Los Angeles Times. The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021."*(source: AFI Catalog of Feature Films)
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