by Hal Erickson
synopsis
The title character in Dumas' Camille is a Parisian courtesan, but the heroine is relatively sympathetic, especially when she gives up her aristocratic young lover Armand Duval (Albert Roscoe) "for his own good." Like many of Bara's "literary" vehicles, this 1917 version of Camille was directed by J. Gordon Edwards, the grandfather of Blake Edwards. The critic for the trade magazine Variety spoke for many when he noted that the zaftig Bara seemed a bit too "voluptuous" to play the consumptive heroine. This shortcoming was, however, common to practically all the cinemazations of Camille, with the possible exception of the 1936 Greta Garbo version.
