Description
This Forbidden Paradise vintage window card is a beautiful original stone lithograph from its Paramount theatrical release era, presented with collector-focused care. Rather than a modern print, the design and period typography capture the confident Ernst Lubitsch–Pola Negri world—cinematic, elegant, and unmistakably of its time.
Based on the play “The Czarina” by Lajos Biro and Menyhert Lengyel, the story follows Catherine (the Czarina) as court intrigue and personal pressure collide. The romantic stakes and political tension build around alliances, loyalty, and consequence—an environment perfectly suited to the “earthy, exotic, strong women” roles Pola Negri became known for in the Lubitsch pairing.
Featured cast includes Pola Negri as Catherine, Rod La Rocque as Capt. Alexei Czerny, Adolphe Menjou as Chancellor, Pauline Starke as Anna, Fred Malatesta as French ambassador, Nick De Ruiz as The General, Carrie Daumery as Lady-in-Wa, with Clark Gable appearing as a Soldier in Czarina’s guard (uncredited).
Condition:
Archival paper backed and in excellent condition, with a clean, display-ready presentation.
Authentication:
Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Offered as an original Paramount Picture theatrical item—not a reprint or reproduction.
Pola Negri was born Apolonia Chalupiec in 1897. She adopted the pseudonym “Pola Negri,” after the Italian poetess, Ada Negri.
The Ernst Lubitsch-Pola Negri combination was very successful and the roles that Pola played were earthy, exotic, strong women. One of her films, ‘Madame DuBarry (1919)’ was optioned and retitled as ‘Passion (1919)’ for exhibition in America. The film was such a success that by 1922, Pola and Lubitsch were both given contracts to work in Hollywood. This film, made with Director Lubitsch, was very successful and starred Pola as Catherine, the Czarina of an unnamed but very Russian-looking country. This lovely stone-litho window card features a gorgeous portrait of Negri from one of her most important films.
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