Fazil (1928)
Directed by Howard Hawks

Film Review

Pierre Frondaie's popular French play L'Insoumise provided the young Howard Hawks with a suitably grand and exotic storyline with which to demonstrate his visual flair and storytelling ability.  Hawks had by this time made four films for the William Fox studio and had already demonstrated remarkable versatility and ambition.  Although its run time is a modest 80 minutes Fazil has an epic feel to it and is an unusually lavish production for Fox.  Hawks fell out with his superiors when he exceeded both the budget and production schedule, thereby hastening his departure from the studio.  Although Hawks was justified in going the extra mile - Fazil is one of the most visually striking of his silent films - the effort was pretty well wasted as the film's release was put back until June 1928 (almost a year after filming had been completed), by which time sound cinema had well and truly arrived.  Fazil must have seemed horribly dated and attracted far less attention than it might have done had it come out a year earlier.

One of the main strengths of the film is the choice of the lead actors, whose charismatic presence considerably enhances what might have been a somewhat tedious and unconvincing melodrama.  Charles Farrell, remembered today for his many superb collaborations with director Frank Borzage, makes an impressive Prince Fazil, his imposing physique and expressive features perfectly attuned to revealing the contradictions of an Arabian potentate who is torn between tradition and love.  The Norwegian actress Greta Nissen, a star with the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, has a dazzling screen presence and, like Farrell, a rare talent for bringing depth and humanity to characters who, on paper, appear hideously superficial.  Nissen's vitality is exploited by Hawks to the full - her Fabienne is the very embodiment of the liberated modern young woman - and it is this which makes the ending so unbearably poignant, if not downright cruel.

Whilst the love-conquers-all plot is scarcely credible, sometimes looking more like a tacky adolescent fantasy than an adult drama, the film is visually alluring and offers up several moments of undiluted brilliance.  The one stand-out sequence is the one depicting the lovers' whirlwind romance in Paris, a spectacular montage that powerfully conveys the frenzy of life lived at its most intense.  Before this there is a memorable ballroom scene in which the throng around the main protagonists disappears, leaving them in a world of their own, oblivious to everything around them.  The last few reels of the film, set in Arabia, are less impressive and the budgetary limitations are painfully revealed by the obvious mismatch between some location footage and a studio mock-up of a desert.  With more time and a much bigger budget Hawks could well have made this his first masterpiece, but circumstances were against him.  Fazil is as much a curiosity piece as anything else, a dusty relic of the silent era which is enlivened by some startling directorial flourishes and its captivating central performances.

Film Synopsis

Although faithful to the traditions of his race the Arabian prince Fazil is reluctant to take wives so that he may produce an heir.  He is a man for whom women as yet hold no interest.  During a business trip to Europe he meets a young French woman, Fabienne, with whom he falls instantly in love.  Fabienne is equally taken with the handsome dark-skinned Arab and, after a whirlwind romance, they agree to marry.  Too soon their different customs begin to drive them apart.  When Fabienne invites an old male friend of hers to have dinner with them Fazil is incensed and returns to his home country, satisfied that their marriage is over.  Unable to forget Fazil, Fabienne heads after him but is shocked when she finds he has assembled a harem of beautiful women.  Realising he still loves Fabienne, Fazil agrees to send his other wives away if she will agree to stay with him.  The unpleasant realities of life in a foreign land and customs that are strange to her cause Fabienne to regret her decision...