Tempest
In the final days of Czarist Russia, a peasant is raised from the ranks to Lieutenant. The other officers, aristocrats all, resent him, and make his life difficult. He falls in love with a princess, who spurns him. When he is caught in her room, he is stripped of his rank and thrown into prison. Then comes the Red Terror, and the tables are turned.
From the archive
I've been researching newly public domain films from 1929 and earlier, so I'm uploading the best possible copies that I can find. Winner of the first Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Tempest followed a Russian peasant who becomes a lieutenant in the army. Bureaucracy and a failed romance with a princess lands him in prison, but his story is not finished there. Reviews and box office from the time of release were not noted, though modern audiences enjoy John Barrymore in the starring role. This version had the best picture quality by far, but used a newer soundtrack and was slightly longer than other versions. I made a couple quick changes to the audio track and now the (mostly) original soundtrack works with this higher quality version.
Why this is free to watch
Tempest (1928) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Sam Taylor
- Starring
- John Barrymore, Camilla Horn, Louis Wolheim, Boris de Fast, George Fawcett, Ullrich Haupt, Michael Visaroff
Player shortcuts
- Space Play / pause
- ← → Skip 10s
- ↑ ↓ Volume
- M Mute
- F Fullscreen
- 0–9 Jump to %
