Silent Feature: Temptation

Credits

Studio: Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company
Released: January 2, 1916

Featured Cast: Geraldine Farrar, Pedro de Cordoba, Theodore Roberts

Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Screenwriter: Hector Turnbull
Art director: Wilfred Buckland
Cinematographer: Alvin Wyckoff

Theme

A poor girl realizes her dream of becoming an opera singer but soon learns that there is a price to pay.

Reviews

“The personality, the magnetism, and the histrionic power of Geraldine Farrar are brought out in this picture even more strongly than in Carmen. The photography is of the highest standard, and the master hand of director DeMille is discernible throughout.”

– The New York Dramatic Mirror, January 8, 1916

Artist Comment

“It was a story of the type that has since served anybody who can lay claim to a vocal chirp—how the little home-town girl makes good in grand opera, upon merit and virtue. it was called Temptation. In those days that title was thought to have considerable sex-appeal.”

– Geraldine Farrar, Such Sweet Compulsion

Figures

Temptation cost $22,472.25 and grossed $102,437.47.
(These figures have not been adjusted for inflation nor do they include the considerable profits realized from reissues, television syndication, and home entertainment formats.)