Rêves de clowns

Paul Fratellini as the notary, the "contre-auguste". François Fratellini as the white clown. Albert Fratellini as Auguste.

(FR 1924) dir: René Hervouin, Blanche Vigier de Maisonneuve. scen: René Hervouin. titles: J. [Joseph] Faivre. photog: Georges Asselin, André Raymond. unit prod. mgr: Jacques Calamy. cast: Les Fratellini (Albert, Paul, François Fratellini), Georges Melchior (Georges Maraval, the aviator), Yane Odoni (Dolorès Braga), Mlle. Marguett, Le petit Roger. prod: Minerve-Film-Production. dist: Les Cinématographes F. Méric. rel: 8.9.1924. copy: 35 mm, incomp., 1412 m (orig. l: 1600 m), 51' (24 fps), tinted; titles: FRA. source: CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Bois d’Arcy (analogue restoration from a print in the collection of the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé).
    Unreleased in Finland.

    Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Slapstick Prog. 2 Clowns and Cretins, 9 Oct 2023.

Vanessa Toulmin (GCM 2023): " The comedic purity of clowning routines in the circus ring in the silent period was rarely captured in its entirety, and, as Ulrich Ruedel observes, seldom translates to the silver screen. This is understandable: a clown entrée in the 1920s could last up to 45 minutes, and relied heavily on audience interplay. Rêves de Clowns (Dreams of Clowns) is the only known feature-length film starring the famous Fratellini Clown Trio, and is a valuable historical record of them at the height of their creative powers. Filmed in the famous Cirque d’Hiver in Paris, it presents the performance or entrée of the three brothers Albert, Paul and François, and their routines take up much of the film’s running time. "

" The plot revolves around the clowns’ attempts to entertain Dolorès Braga (Yane Odoni), the only person in the audience who takes no pleasure in their antics; she leaves her seat halfway through the show. Returning backstage to their dressing room (a complete replica of their original circus one was created for the film), the brothers despondently discuss their inability to amuse the forlorn woman. Falling into a deep slumber, they enter an exotic fantasy environment, where they again meet Dolorès and renew their attempts to make her laugh. All efforts fail, despite the array of dazzling routines, farcical contortions, and ludicrous scenarios the brothers perform in the fantasy setting. They awake in time for the second half of the circus performance. As the brothers enter the ring, the camera once more focuses on the despondent beauty, who has now returned to her seat, before cutting to an airfield outside Paris. Here we see the return of the famous aviator Georges Maraval (Georges Melchior) from a record-breaking flight. Speedily arriving at the Cirque d’Hiver, Maraval enters the ring and falls into the arms of Dolorès. It immediately becomes clear that the reason for her sadness was worry about the return of her lover, not any dislike of the brothers’ act. The crowds cheer the safe return of the famous aviator, the lovers are reunited, and the performance of the Fratellini Trio resumes to great acclaim. "

" The film received near-unanimous critical disdain in the French general press. Jean Chataigner, writing in Le Journal (21.11.1924), remarked: “I don’t know what clumsy individual (who deserves to be named as punishment) has used the film to do a disservice to the talent of the Fratellinis. Fortunately, the kings of the circus will emerge unscathed from this irritating and deplorable adventure.” The reviewer for Le Petit Journal (5.12.1924) was even more direct, suggesting that “The film’s screenplay was only put together as a pretext to showcase the Fratellini, the famous clowns who have so swiftly endeared themselves to Parisians.” "

" Indeed, the film’s lasting merit is as a showcase for Albert (1885-1961), Paul (1877-1940), and François (1879-1951), performing as the Fratellini Trio in their prime. Recognized as the first trio in the history of clowning, after the death of their brother Louis in 1909 they took the traditional components of the white clown/red clown duo and added the character of the notary, an enhanced “contre-auguste”. The characterizations in Rêves de Clowns are an exact representation of their circus act: François as the classic elegant whiteface French clown, Albert as the “dumb Auguste” (Dummer August) “red clown” baggy-pants tramp, and Paul, creating a dynamic interplay between the two traditional characters and participating in the interchanges between his brothers. "

" Paul would be described as the “Auguste des Augustes”; he wore little make-up, but always sported a top hat and monocle. Albert created a pared-down grotesque make-up design, with high black brows, an exaggerated mouth, and a bulbous red nose, and never smiled. François perfected the elegance of the traditional “white clown”, with his sequined costume (“sac de clown”) and white cap. After a peripatetic upbringing between Russia and France, the brothers, of Italian descent, first appeared as the Trio Fratellini with Circus Busch in Berlin, and then worked in Russia, Portugal, and Spain before returning to France in 1914. They became the toast of the Circus Medrano in Paris, and were fêted by French intellectual society. Jean Cocteau wrote the scenario of the surrealist pantomime ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit (1920) for them, and Darius Milhaud’s score featured his famous “Le Tango des Fratellini”, while the journalist Pierre Mariel wrote a treatise on their innovative routines in 1923 (Les Fratellini. Histoire de trois clowns). "

" After signing a ten-year contract with artistic-director status at the newly opened Cirque d’Hiver in 1924, they filmed Rêves de Clowns, in many ways an extended advertisement for the opening season in their new home. The Trio were musical clowns, and elements of their musical and instrumental dexterity are apparent in the film’s final sequences. They always performed entrées, and never appeared as fillers or chasers between acts. In fact, in the film it is actor Georges Melchior (1899-1944) who appears fleetingly, despite his catalogue of over 67 films between 1911 and 1937, acting in circus terms as the chaser or filler between the true stars, Les Fratellini. This was also noted by the reviewer from Le Petit Journal, who observed, “M. G. Melchior has a far from important role in this film, which will at least have the merit of giving certain friends of Cinema the desire to go and applaud the Fratellini in their true domain – that is, the circus.” An exceptionally valuable on-set photo published in Cinémagazine (18.7.1924) shows the cast and crew, most of whom are identified, except, frustratingly, the two black performers, looking remarkably modern in their guise and attitudes. "

" Albert Fratellini, in his autobiography Nous, les Fratellini (1955), described the film’s story as “drawn out and melodramatic”. He did concur that its importance lies in that it is “the only filmed document that exists about us, and which stages, at the peak of their careers, the act of Paul, François, and Albert Fratellini.” He concludes by hoping that in the future “people will rewatch this film from time to time on the screen, when the Three Fratellinis will be nothing more than figures of legend.” " – Vanessa Toulmin

Jay Weissberg (GCM 2023): " The two credited directors, René Hervouin (1895-1957) and Blanche Vigier de Maisonneuve (dates unknown), appear to have begun their careers in cinema as critics for Le Courrier Cinématographique – his byline first appears in 1920, and hers only briefly between August and November 1922. Hervouin moved to Hebdo-Film, and in 1922 started a new film journal, Lumière, which he sold in October 1923 to Vigier de Maisonneuve, while retaining his position as editor-in-chief (shortly thereafter it became La Revue cinématographique, and then was incorporated into Cinémagazine). It appears that the production company Minerve-Films, created specifically for Rêves de Clowns, was owned by Vigier de Maisonneuve, but frustratingly nothing more is known about her after 1924. Shortly after the film was released, Hervouin became head of press for Paramount’s French office, while continuing to write for film publications; by the 1930s he developed a successful career as a documentary filmmaker. " – Jay Weissberg

AA: I am grateful to Vanessa Toulmin and Jay Weissberg for the fantastic background information (copied above) to this remarkable film.

Rêves de clowns has the flimsiest of plots. It is an oneiric movie about the ancient phenomenon of the clown. It is one of the key films about the subject, together with I clowns by Fellini. Fellini was in touch with divine madness. He was a Franciscan, a co-screenwriter of Francesco, giullare di Dio.

Who knows how old the phenomenon of the Fool is? Perhaps as old as magic and music and dance. There were Fools in Ancient Egypt and in American indigenous cultures. There is the Fool in King Lear, Les Enfants de paradis and Andrei Rublyov. Cézanne and Picasso caught something profound in their pictures of clowns. "Ridi, pagliaccio". 

Rêves de clowns is largely a straight record from the performance of the Fratellini at the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris. "Trinité hilarante". "Pauvres malades". "Jeux Olympiques de rire". "Chasse de rêve". "Pleine lune... de miel".

The performance is full of odd touches and inventions of the absurd. Not only what but also how. The oiling of the joints. "Il doit y avoir du brochet" ("We need pike"). A wall sized cat set. Two ponies on a seesaw. A holy swimming pool. 

An uncanny mise-en-scène. A consistently inconsistent approach. "It's old and always new". 

The framing footage is of the three brothers in toy cars. There is an association to the first short film opening this screening, L'Automobile et le cul-de-jatte.