On 19 Oct 1920, Wid’s Daily reported that Metro Pictures Corp. intended to purchase the motion picture rights to Alexandre Dumas’s 1848 novel, La Dame aux camélias from the Famous Pictures-Lasky Corp. Following the acquisition, a 1 Jan 1921 Motion Picture News item announced Metro’s intention to move the project up in the studio roster, with filming set to begin by early the following month. The 5 Mar 1921 Motion Picture News estimated a lengthy production schedule and high budget rivaling those of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921, see entry), which took six months and cost more than $1 million to complete. However, a 23 Apr 1921 Camera item mentioned that "Madame Nazimova" had completed her filming.
       While actress-producer Nazimova told the 12 Nov 1921 Motion Picture News that the film was a close adaptation of Dumas’s original novel, several contemporary sources stated that Nazimova’s work was notable for its “ultra-modern” retelling of a familiar story. According to the 5 Mar 1921 Moving Picture World and 19 Mar 1921 Exhibitors Herald, Nazimova collaborated with the costume department to design all the gowns worn in the picture, while sets were designed by Natacha Rambova. Exhibitors Herald claimed that some of the draperies were taken from Nazimova’s personal home furnishings, while the others were imported specially from Paris, France.
       The Aug 1921--Jan 1922 issue of Motion Picture Magazine announced that a premiere screening was scheduled to take place 7 Sep 1921 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City.
       Although her appearance could not be confirmed, the 17 Dec 1921 Moving Picture World reported that Camille was one of the first feature films of Andrée Tourneur, who worked two days as a background actor in the gambling hall sequences. Tourneur made her theatrical motion picture debut in The Conquering Power (see entry), released earlier that summer.
       For information on other versions of Camille, please consult the entries for the 1914 Shubert Film Corp. production, directed by Albert Capellani, starring Paul Capellani and Clara Kimball Young, and the 1937 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor.
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant. It was screened at the Kansas Silent Film Festival on 24 February 2018.