1899 Anno Quattro Capitolo 5: Una battuta di caccia al Bois-Boudran / A Battue at Bois-Boudran

[La Duchesse de Noailles en battue].

1899 Cinema Anno Quattro: Una battuta di caccia al Bois-Boudran / A Battue at Bois-Boudran.
Introduce Mariann Lewinsky.
Commentary by Gróf Bánffy Miklós read by Bryony Dixon.
Musical commentary by Stephen Horne at the grand piano and the flute.
Viewed at Sala Mastroianni, Bologna, Il Cinema Ritrovato, 24 June 2019.

Mariann Lewinsky (Il Cinema Ritrovato): "Many of the 35 vues attributed to Louis Lumière (most of them from 1895-1896) now look like home movies. They star babies and pets or capture memories of afternoons in the garden or on the beach. However, they do not qualify as genuine home movies since they were screened in public, to anonymous audiences who neither knew nor cared that the bébé was the niece of the person operating the camera. Nor do the films in this programme qualify. Yes, they are inédits, intended for private viewing, but it is unlikely that they were shot by a family member. Peter Elfelt filmed the Danish Royals in his function as the court photographer. "

"Who might have filmed the battue at Bois-Boudran, the immense estate of Comte Greffulhe? His wife had her photographic portraits taken in the top studios of Paris, by Nadar, Otto, Reutlinger, so it seems far more likely that these films were shot by a professional than a member of the family.

"The hunts in Bois-Boudran were famous. Invitations were highly coveted, kings and princes were among the invited guests and Grand Duke Wladimir of Russia was a regular presence. You will need a guide to understand these films, and there is one. In the second volume of his Transylvanian Trilogy (1937) Count Miklós Bánffy gives a panoramic description of a battue, including the colours and sounds, written with the invaluable knowledge of an insider – Bánffy belonged to the same class as the Greffulhe-Gramonts – and the distance of a great writer."

"Ladies of the highest nobility hunted too, and with relish – observe the Grand Duchess Wladimir, she of the famous tiara. To our relief, Élisabeth Greffulhe does not participate in the massacre and, as always, outshines everybody. The upturned collar! The hat!"

"Following recommendations of Béatrice de Pâstre, a later film from the same collection donated by Henri de Gramont has been included as a bonus to the programme." Mariann Lewinsky

Photographing the Royal Family.
Peter Elfelt. DCP. D.: 1’30’’. Bn. Director: Peter Elfelt. Year: 1899. Country: Danimarca. Copy from Det Danske Filminstitut.
    AA: Danish credit title. A straight non-fiction record. Visual quality: good.

[Chasseurs à Bois Boudran].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from [CNC?].

[Le Grand-Duc Nicolas / La Comtesse de Greffulhe, le Grand-Duc Wladimir, la Grande-Duchesse Wladimir].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 30m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Le Grand-Duc Wladimir en battue / Le Grand Duc Wladimir et Élisabeth Greffulhe]. Proust's model for Countess de Guermantes.

[Le Grand-Duc Wladimir en battue / Le Grand Duc Wladimir et Élisabeth Greffulhe].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Le Comte Greffulhe en battue à Villefermoy]. Proust's model for Count de Guermantes.

[Le Comte Greffulhe en battue à Villefermoy].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Scène de chasse No 2].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 44 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Le Grand-Duc Nicolas en battue]

[Le Grand-Duc Nicolas en battue].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 29 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Scène de chasse No 3].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 39 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[La Duchesse de Noailles en battue].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 49 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[La Grande-Duchesse Wladimir à la chasse]

[La Grande-Duchesse Wladimir à la chasse].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 43 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Chenil de Bois-Boudran].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 31 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Arrivée en chaise de poste et chiens au grand étang]

[Arrivée en chaise de poste et chiens au grand étang].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 42 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Le Comte Greffulhe en battue].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[La Comtesse Greffulhe et Mademoiselle].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[La Comtesse Greffulhe en robe de soir].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 22 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Famille Gramont, terrasse de l’avenue Henri-Martin].
La Famille Greffulhe. L.: 96 m. 35 mm. Bn. Year: 1917. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

AA: Private movies from aristocratic life from the Famille Greffulhe collection, preserved by CNC on 35 mm. Professionally made, focusing on hunting scenes in hunting parties at the forest of Bois-Boudran where aristocratic hunters, often with Russian guests, have personal loaders. It is usually chasse en battue, hunting with beaters. We also visit the Bois-Boudran kennel. After the views of the hunters we witness the Greffulhe ladies in evening dress at home.

Wikipedia: "Le comte Henry Jules Charles Emmanuel Greffulhe, né le 25 décembre 1848 et mort le 31 mars 1932 à Paris 8e, est un aristocrate français qui fut un des modèles de Marcel Proust pour le duc de Guermantes dans À la recherche du temps perdu."

Wikipedia: "Marie-Joséphine-Anatole-Louise-Élisabeth de Riquet, comtesse de Caraman-Chimay, comtesse Greffulhe, est une aristocrate française née le 11 juillet 1860 dans le 7e arrondissement de Paris1 et morte le 21 août 1952 à Genève (Suisse). Mécène aussi bien de la science que des arts, elle a servi de modèle à Marcel Proust pour le personnage de la duchesse de Guermantes dans À la recherche du temps perdu. "

La duchesse de Noailles, starring in one of the films, belongs to "la maison de Noailles, une ancienne et illustre famille de la noblesse française". Later members of the family included Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, patrons of the arts, who financed avant-garde films by Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.

The visual quality is fine, sometimes in high contrast.