Northwest Film Forum

In 1916, with only two feature films under his belt, director Rex Ingram moved to Hollywood at the invitation of the budding Universal Film Manufacturing Company—grandfather of Universal Studios—to direct an adaptation of the play that had inspired Puccini’s Tosca. His adaptation, The Chalice of Sorrow, transplants a tragic Roman love triangle to Mexico City, where opera singer Lorelei is pursued by both the city’s ruthless governor and an American artist, her secret fiancé. Ingram focuses fearlessly on the bodies of his actors—an uncommon tactic during his time—electrifying the tale’s physicality and melodrama. Erich von Stroheim called Rex Ingram the world’s greatest director, and not for nothing. Don’t miss this one!