Set in the fictitious European kingdom of Balanca, Prince Michael IV is being coerced, by his advisers, to marry a young woman of royal blood. However, he has fallen for a peasant.
The film was shot in Los Angeles with a budget of $293,000. Working titles included The Sun King, His Night and The Loves of Louis.[2] The script originally contained reworked plot elements from Man in the Iron Mask but these elements were eventually discarded and the film took on a more Prussian design scheme reminiscent of the earlier Novarro success, The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. Plot elements were allegedly adapted from the reign of Louis XIV of France.[3][4] The Palm Beach Post suggested that Marie of Romania had inspired the character of the Queen Mother, played by Dorothy Cumming.[5]
News sources reported that Jacqueline Gadsden, Marcelle Corday and a Shirley O'Hara were also in the cast.[6][7][8]Sven Hugo Borg may have also appeared in the film.[9] In an expansion of the common silent-filmmaking convention of having live musicians on set, a vocalist worked on set to provide atmosphere for the actors; singer Lillian Rosine is credited as having "introduced the idea" and may have performed this task on the Forbidden Hours set.[10]
As originally scripted, Prince Michael eventually marries his betrothed in order to keep peace between his nation and hers. The concluding scene showed him passing a convent where Marie now resides as a nun. This ending, which deliberately recalled Student Prince, was changed to a happier one, but press materials were still issued by the studio detailing the original ending, causing some confusion in the press.[11]
Reception
Forbidden Hours premiered at the Capitol Theater in New York on July 22, 1928.[12] The film was greeted with mixed critical responses. The Film Daily described it as a "rehash of Student Prince and Merry Widow themes."[13] The Palm Beach Post, however, was one source who praised the film's scenario, design and performances.[14] Reviewer Anne Austin suggested in her report on the film's altered ending that Renée Adorée seemed too old for the role of Marie.[15]
As a prestige picture, Forbidden Hours was widely distributed and advertised. At the California Theatre in San Jose, California, it was accompanied by Hi-Yeller Idea, a live prologue staged by Fanchon and Marco.[16]
Forbidden Hours eventually made a profit of $109,000,[17] but was considered a commercial disappointment by the studio. Long thought to be lost, it was discovered to have survived in 2000,[18] and had its first theatrical screening in seventy-three years at the Bijou Theater in Lincoln City, Oregon in 2002.[19]
