A young man from a modest Jewish family, Léon Drey is determined, at all costs, to access high society. And since he is very handsome, and knows it, he wants to use his power of seduction to achieve his ends. The first woman he seduces is Berta, a young girl to whom he promises marriage. After taking full advantage of the generosity of Berta's father, who is madly in love with him, he breaks up and decides to look for richer women. In a restaurant, he meets a rich lawyer whose wife is very beautiful. He introduces himself and knows how to flatter the lawyer so well that the latter invites him to live with them. He organizes his ball to which Léon is invited, who takes the opportunity to charm several rich women whom he is determined to meet systematically in the following days. But the lawyer's wife, realizing that she is being deceived by her new lover, throws herself out of a window. It takes more than that to move Léon who continues to seduce...
commentaries
To make a screen adaptation of Yushkevich's popular novel is both a difficult and thankless task. <…>This is also the case with Leon Drey. <..>What could Mr Radin have done? He was handsome enough to justify having all these women clinging to his neck, but those characteristic experiences and emotions, the specific nature of Leon Drey, which make him so vivid, integral and understandable in the novel are not brought over by the film script.
(TG, 1915, No. 33, 15) from Testimni silenziosi, film russi 1908-1919, Edizioni Biblioteca dell’immagine
Semen Yushkevich, the talented chronicler of Jewish life, is inclined to get carried away with literary fashion. <…> Leon Drey also bears the mark of an obsession with sexual matters, and for this reason we found the idea of a cinema illustration of it very risky. However, in producing Leon Drey, Bauer has coped with a difficult task with rare tact and an impeccable sense of moderation. In his vivid and ably constructed scenes he has avoided any abruptness or coarse realism that might offend the audience. As a vivid illustration of a relatively new social phenomenon and a superbly humourous reproduction of scenes from Jewish life, the film Leon Drey is of major interest.
VK, 1915, No. 111/9, 22-23
