Song of the Flame (1930)
Directed by	Alan Crosland
Written by	Gordon Rigby based on the 1925 operetta by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto A. Harbach.
Starring	Alexander Gray, Bernice Claire, Alice Gentle and Noah Beery
Music by	Harry Akst, Jay Chernis, Grant Clarke, David Mendoza, Herbert Stothart, Edward Ward.
Cinematography	Lee Garmes (Technicolor)
Editing by	Alexander Hall
Distributed by	First National Pictures
Release date(s)	May 25, 1930
Running time	96 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Song of the Flame is a 1930 musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence using a process called Vitascope (a Warner Brother's wide screen process). The film was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Sound Recording." Alan Crosland (August 10, 1894 - July 16, 1936) was an American actor and film director. ... For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was a New-York born writer, producer, and (usually uncredited) director of musicals for almost forty years. ... Air Vice Marshal Alexander Gray CB,MC (1896-1980) World War II 1939 July Officer Commanding, RAF Manston. ... Noah Beery (January 17, 1882 - April 1, 1946) was an American actor. ... Harry Akst (August 15, 1894–March 31, 1963) was an American songwriter. ... Lee Garmes (May 27, 1898 - August 31, 1978) was an award-winning American cinematographer. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... The First National Exhibitors Circuit was founded 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest First Run cinema chains in the United States of America, controlling more than 600 cinemas, more than 200 of them were First Run cinemas. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc. ... The inner box (green) is the format used in most pre-1952 films and pre-widescreen television. ...

Film

The story of the movie is about a peasant ( Bernice Claire ) who is known as "The Flame" who leads a revolution in Russia. This peasant who is in love with a Russian prince (Alexander Gray) saves his life by agreeing to sacrifice her virginity to an evil fellow-conspirtator (Noah Beery).

Preservation

The film is believed to be lost. Only the soundtrack, which was recorded separately on Vitaphone disks, survives. The extant sound discs from this film reveal a very high quality Vitaphone sound - round, warm and clear with good sound effects and a quality reproduction of speaking and singing voices as well as orchestrations. It would seem it fully deserved its Oscar nomination for Best Sound. The score is a marvelously operatic one. All nine songs are preserved in the sound disc performances. There were four choruses as well, three of traditional Russian folk tunes and one drawn from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. The Warner Brothers Vitaphone logo. ...