Pierre Loti (2023 Pordenone compilation curated by Elif Rongen Kaynakçi)

Passage des partiques (École de gymnastique Joinville) (FR 1897). 
Türkei - Konstantinopel - Aufnahmen von Istanbul in Pathécolor (1909-1913?).
Photos: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto catalog 2023.

Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), 9 Oct 2023.

A cura di Elif Rongen Kaynakçi.

Program notes by Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023).

 
LES ATHLÈTES DE L’ÉCOLE MILITAIRE DE JOINVILLE (De Athleten van de Militaire School van Joinville-le-Pont bij Paris) (FR 1917) prod: Pathé. 35 mm, 182 m, 7'46" (20 fps), col. (from pos. nitr., pochoir/stencil-colour); main title + intertitles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Stencilled nitrate print duplicated to internegative in 1993; colour print made at Neyrac studios 2001.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " “Les athlètes de Joinville. Les barres parallèles”. A series of exercises on the parallel bars (“bridge”), many also filmed in slow-motion, recorded per the Dutch titles with the Pathé Frères “langzaam-werkend apparaat” (literally, slow-working apparatus)."

    AA: A gorgeous set of military gymnastic exercises, partly in slow motion. Artistic gymnastics (telinevoimistelu), balance exercises, saddle jumps, Seitensprünge (side jumps), giant swings, roll swings, backward rolls, giant balance swings, forward roll jumps, seesaw swings. A showcase of pure male physical beauty and beauty of motion.

PASSAGE DES PORTIQUES (ÉCOLE DE GYMNASTIQUE JOINVILLE) (GB 1897) D: William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. prod: British Mutoscope & Biograph Syndicate. 35 mm, 17 m, 37" (24 fps) (from 68 mm pos.); no titles. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Duplicated to 35 mm negative and printed in 1999 at Haghefilm.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Scene of cadets climbing the stairs of a gantry, running across it, and then descending by sliding down poles or jumping off. Pierre Loti joined the École Militaire de Joinville in 1875. Throughout his life, he was fond of gymnastics. He is said to have performed with the Etruscan circus in Toulon immediately following his training in Joinville. A photograph taken in acrobat costume survives, along with his diary entry: “My costume comes straight from Milan, chez Carolo  Lorenzi, who makes for all the fashionable acrobats.” "

    AA: In long shot and long take, a quick view of a military drill on the stairs of a gantry.

TÜRKEI – KONSTANTINOPEL – AUFNAHMEN VAN ISTANBUL IN PATHÉCOLOR [Turchia – Costantinopoli –Vedute di Istanbul in Pathécolor / Turkey – Constantinople – Views of Istanbul in Pathécolor] (FR, 1909-1913?) DCP, 6'14", col. (from 35 mm pos. nitr., pochoir/stencil-colour + imbibizione/tinting, 18 fps); titles: GER. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Digitized by Eye in 2014 from a stencilled nitrate print held at Filmarchiv Austria.
    AA: Good visual quality and appealing stencil Pathécolor in a travelogue of Istanbul / Constantinople with views of the Golden Horn, the holy spring, Muhammad's sword, holy doves, the Bosporus Strait, the Pera district, the Dolmabahçe Palace, tracking shots from a moving boat, the great gate of the palace, the Ortaköy Mosque. A movie of visual beauty and lyrical observations such as the movement of a flock of flying pigeons.

Stamboul et la Corne d'Or (FR 1912).
De Zeevaartschool der Fransche Marine (FR 1917).
In West-Afrika (FR 1919-1922).
Photos: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto catalog 2023.

STAMBOUL ET LA CORNE D’OR (Turkije) (FR 1912) prod: Éclipse/Radios. 35 mm, 78.5 m, 3'51" (18 fps), col. (from 35 mm pos. nitr., imbibito/tinted); main title + titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. The film was preserved in 1993 to internegative from nitrate. The colour print was made in 1997. The film was identified in 2021 based on the publicity flyer in the Desmet Collection.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Loti was stationed in Constantinople many times between 1876 and 1913, first with military and then with diplomatic duties. He wrote several novels and essays set in Turkey, the most famous being Aziyadeh (Aziyadé, 1879), about the illicit romance between a French naval officer and a harem girl. Loti remained interested in the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, albeit lobbying from a distance. “I have suffered too much these last months, seeing the infamous machinations against my beloved Turkey,” he wrote following the occupation of Istanbul by Allied forces in 1918, which lasted until 1923. Both films show the neighbourhoods Loti frequented and regularly wrote about. Loti is still fondly remembered in Istanbul; many streets and establishments are named after him, and the Turkish translations of his books are still widely available. "

    AA: Ravishing tracking shots from a boat traversing the Bosphorus Strait from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea.

DE ZEEVAARTSCHOOL DER FRANSCHE MARINE [L’accademia navale della marina francese / The Maritime School of the French Navy] (FR, 1917?) 35 mm, 108 m, 5'17" (18 fps) (from 35 mm pos. nitr.); titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. The film was preserved in 1993 to internegative from nitrate. The colour print was made in 1997. The film was identified in 2021 based on the publicity flyer in the Desmet Collection.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Documentary about the education of pupils of the French naval school in Brest, aboard the ships Magellan and Armorique, including physical exercises and practical instruction. Loti started his naval training at the Naval School at Brest in 1867, living for the first year aboard the Borda, and then departing on a long voyage around the world in his third year. He wrote: “This floating cloister was huge and light and welcoming; it smelled of scrubbed paint, tarred ropes, salt, seaweed – and the sea.” Loti spent a good portion of his life on ships, until his last naval command (“Viceroy of Pheasant Island”) ended in 1898 (see the note for the last film in this programme, Sous le ciel Basque, 1913). "
    AA: Drill exercises of marines on the two ships Magellan and Armorique. Gymnastics, flag signals, exercises with miniature vessels, how ships are lined up, light signals, use of telescope, cleaning, handling of boats.

IN WEST-AFRIKA (FR, 1919-1922) 35 mm, 205 m, 8'58" (18 fps), imbibito/tinted (Desmet process); titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Duplicated at Haghefilm in 2010, using the Desmetcolor process.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Compilation of Pathé Revue items. Subjects: West Africa Habe dancers. [Note: The ritual dances and masks depicted – bird dance, shell masks, stilt bird, reed dance – match modern footage of the Dogon tribe in Mali.] Sudanese textile production and embroidery, including cotton cultivation on the banks of the Niger. Tapioca preparation in Togo. Birds of Sudan and Senegal (this final fragment is from Oiseaux aquatiques d’Afrique Occidentale Française, M. Livier, France, 1919). "

    " Following a trip to Tahiti, Loti set sail to West Africa in 1874. Stationed in Dakar, he immersed himself in West African life. His novel Le Roman d’un spahi (1881) is believed to be partly autobiographical, where he conjures “all the sounds and smells of Africa, of soumaré, dusky flesh, musk and rot; the strange cries of the baboons in the forests… the bird calls”, as well as the local dances and music. Anatole France wrote: “It was reserved for Pierre Loti to make us savour – to the point of intoxication, of delirium, of stupor, even – the bitter flavour of exotic loves.” "
    AA: French West Africa: Habe dances, symbolic dances, bird dances, bird masks made of shells, dances on long stilts, deer dances, embroiderers in Sudan, linen is strong, preparing tapioca. 

Il fiore del deserto (IT 1911).
L'Après-midi d'une japonaise (FR 1920).
Mariage japonais (FR 1910).
Photos: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto catalog 2023.

IL FIORE DEL DESERTO (IT 1911) D: ?. cast: Gianna Terribili-Gonzales (Lakmé), Cesare Moltini (Sidi). prod: Cines. 35 mm, 180 m, 8'58" (18 fps), col. (imbibito/tinted); titles: GER. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (Desmet Collection). Preserved at Haghefilm from a nitrate print in 1990.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Lakmé sacrifices herself to the Emir in order to save her people. Her lover Sidi tries to save her from the harem, but he is too late, as Lakmé chooses to die by a snakebite while performing her dance. "

    " Although not an adaptation of a Loti novel, this film represents the Orientalist tendencies of Loti’s universe in all its aspects. An impossible love story with a beautiful harem woman set in lavish Orientalist decors (recalling the “Salon Turc” of Loti’s house in Rochefort), it could easily have been written by Loti. It is also worth noting that Léo Delibes’ opera Lakmé (1883) was based on Loti’s Le Mariage de Loti (1880). "

    AA: Stunning composition, Orientalism galore, jealousy, histrionic acting, featuring Lakmé, genuinely sensual, Lakmé tries to resist the Emir's love, gorgeously sensual snake dance, Zu spät! (Too late!), Lakme´s death throes from snakebite.

L’APRÈS-MIDI D’UNE JAPONAISE (PATHÉ-REVUE NO. 42) (Japaneesche dames) (FR 1920) prod: Pathé. 35 mm, 53 m, 2'47" (18 fps), col. (from 35 mm pos. nitr., pochoir/stencil-colour); main title+ intertitles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Duplicated in 1989 from a nitrate print donated in 1986.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " This Pathé Revue shows the daily life of a Japanese lady: we see women drinking tea, strolling in the park, playing a game of hanetsuki (similar to badminton but played with wooden paddles), shopping, and arranging flowers (ikebana). "

    AA: An excursion into the life of the Japanese leisure classes. Afternoon tea. Ivory shop. Hairdo requires two hours from a multi-person staff. There is a game of hagoita (battledore), the Japanese badminton. Pochoir colour.

MARIAGE JAPONAIS (FR, 1910?) prod: Pathé. 35 mm, 70 m, 3'27" (18 fps), col. (imbibito/tinted) (from 28 mm pos.); main title: FRA, no intertitles. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Duplicated from a 28 mm Pathé-KOK print at the Immagine Ritrovata lab in 2000.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " Film shot in one continuous take, showing a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, with much tea drinking and a fan dance. Shortly after completing the novel Pêcheur d’Islande at Rochefort in 1885, Loti departed for Japan. Anchored for about six months near Nagasaki, Loti was able to observe the Japanese way of life. He ended up writing a trilogy; the most famous volume, Madame Chrysanthème (1888), became the inspiration for Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly (1904). “Japoneries” were already very fashionable in France, but Loti didn’t stop at collecting small mementos: he had a Japanese pagoda built in Rochefort in 1886, which was dismantled in the late 1920s. "

    AA: More japonaiserie: a lovely enactment of a Japanese marriage ceremony. The master of ceremonies performs the dance. Duped Pathé-KOK quality.

DE BEGRAFENIS VAN SARAH BERNHARDT [I funerali di Sarah Bernhardt/The Funeral of Sarah Bernhardt] (FR 1923) prod: ?. filmed: 28.3.1923. 35 mm, 75.8 m, 3'42" (18 fps) (from 35 mm pos. nitr.); titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Duplicated from a nitrate print to negative in 1993; this black & white print was made in 1999. The titles are in Dutch, with only one French title at the end (“À la cimetière Père Lachaise”).

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " When Sarah Bernhardt died on 26 March 1923, numerous obituaries appeared in Dutch newspapers. Practically all of them mentioned the fact that her health had not been good at all recently, and that the day before her death she had requested many flowers at her funeral and expressed her wish to be buried in the rosewood coffin she had made to measure 30 years earlier, which Loti had seen on various occasions (he may even have slept in it!). As the news of her death was followed so closely, it is not at all surprising that footage of her funeral was screened at Dutch film theatres. The nitrate print of this newsreel arrived at Eye in 1961 through a private donation. "
    AA: An epic documentary record of Sarah Bernhardt's funeral, a national event and an international event. Huge crowds line the streets of Paris through which her hearse is transported to the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. Slightly duped look. Grandiose.

SOUS LE CIEL BASQUE (Onder de Baskische hemel) (FR 1913) prod: Éclipse. 35 mm, 82 m, 4'09" (18 fps), col. (from 35 mm pos. nitr., pochoir/stencil-colour); titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (Desmet Collection). Duplicated in colour from a nitrate print in 1991. A black & white print of an English-language version of this film, entitled On the Coast of the Bay of Biscay, France, released by George Klein in the U.S. sometime between 1911 and 1915, also survives at the Library of Congress.

    Elif Rongen Kaynakçi (GCM 2023): " A published description reads: “A travelog of the frontier dividing France and Spain, with views of the Hendaye Coast, France; the village of Fontarabia [i.e., Hondarribia], Spain; Saint Marie Gate at Fontarabia; a shopping center; homes of fishermen; the frontier of Spain; Behobie, France (rather than Spain, as appears on interior title); the International Bridge between France and Spain; the beach and streets of San Sebastian; the house of Pierre Loti and the old castle of Polignac; and the Island of Pheasants. Includes a trip by electric train from Hendaye to San Sebastian, and ends with twilight scenes of the Spanish coast.”(The George Kleine Collection of Early Motion Pictures at the Library of Congress: A Catalog, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 1980).

    " Eye’s Desmet Collection contains the original French brochure. "

    " L’Ile des Faisans (Pheasant Island) is the world’s smallest “condominium”, a territory under joint sovereignty, officially alternating governance for periods of six months, administered by naval commanders of Spain and France. The French position carries the title of “Viceroy of Pheasant Island”; between 1892 and 1898 one of the French officers with this title was Pierre Loti. Here he met Crucita Gainza, with whom he had four sons. He lived in a house called “Bakhar Etchea”, which he later bought in 1903, where he would die 20 years later. Basque culture inspired him to write the novel Ramuntcho (1897), which was filmed in 1919, 1938, and 1959. "

    AA: A phantom ride through Basque Country on an electric railway. The pheasant was Pierre Loti's totem animal. This is how it came to the title "Viceroy of Pheasant Island". Charming.

AA: To sum up: this beautiful compilation programme curated by Elif Rongen Kaynakçi was my favourite show at Le Giornate in 2023. It is a film portrait of Pierre Loti the man of the world, the marine, the officer, the adventurer, the sportsman, the lover and the author although not a single frame of his image is seen.

 

Sous le ciel basque (FR 1913).
Photos: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Le Giornate del Cinema Muto catalog 2023.