LES NOUVEAUX MESSIEURS CONCERT WITH ANTONIO COPPOLA AND L'OCTUOR DE FRANCE

Les nouveaux Messieurs / [the film was not released in Finland]. FR 1929. PC: Films Albatros / Sequana Films. P: Alexandre Kamenka, Simon Schiffrin; D: Jacques Feyder; SC: Jacques Feyder, Charles Spaak, based on the play by Robert de Flers & Francis de Croisset (1926); cin: Georges Périnal, Maurice Desfassiaux; ad: Lazare Meerson; filmed: Brie-Comte-Robert; Créteil; Brunoy; Château de Bisy; Studios Billancourt; cast: Albert Préjean (Jacques Gaillac), Gaby Morlay (Suzanne Verrier), Henry Roussell (Comte de Montoire-Grandpré), Guy Ferrant (journalist), Henry Valbel (a deputy), Charles Barrois (Director of the Opéra), Andrée Canti (Julie), Raymond Narlay (Cabinet director), A. Duchange (prefect); 2805 m /20 fps/ 123 min; print: La Cinémathèque française, reconstituée 1990 par Renée Lichtig. Original in French with e-subtitles. The closing gala of Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 11 October 2008.
Score composed and conducted by Antonio Coppola
Performed by l'Octuor de France
Feyder's handsome and extraordinary (conservative) political satire revisited. It keeps astonishing with its stunning visuals and witty inventions. The weakness: its characters fail to move.
It was a pleasure to experience Antonio Coppola's rich and many-sided music which responds to the satire of the "pomp and circumstance" and has both magnificent and droll patterns.

La Bandera

Kuoleman pataljoona. FR 1935. PC: Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie. D: Julien Duvivier. SC: Duvivier, Charles Spaak, Pierre Mac Orlan - based on the novel by Mac Orlan. DP: Jules Kruger, Marc Fossard. Starring Jean Gabin, Annabella, Robert Le Vigan, Pierre Renoir, Gaston Modot, Viviane Romance. 102 min. Restored by AFF / CNC. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Arlecchino, 3 July 2008. - Gabin's first signature role as a fatal, tragic man who tries to escape his dark past of crime and murder - in this story, in the Foreign Legion, meeting and marrying in a strange tattoo and blood marriage Aicha (Annabella) too late. There is a compelling flow in the film, a milestone in the French 1930s crime fantasy film, one of the models of American film noir. A colonialistic film, but in fantasy mode. Clearly Pépé le Moko built on this.

La Chambre ardente / The Burning Court

Julien Duvivier: La Chambre ardente / The Burning Court (FR/IT 1962). Nadja Tiller as Myra Schneider.

Noiduttu yö / Nattens demoner. FR / IT 1962. PC: UFA / Comacico / Taurus / Laura Cinematografica. D: Julien Duvivier. SC: Duvivier, Charles Spaak – based on the novel The Burning Court (1937) by John Dickson Carr, in Finnish: Noita palaa aina (Viihdeviikarit / Risto Raitio 1987). DP: Roger Fellous. M: Georges Auric. Starring Nadja Tiller (Myra Schneider), Jean-Claude Brialy (Marc), Claude Rich (Stéphane Desgrez), Edith Scob (Marie). 114 min. A vintage print by Valio-Filmi with Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 29 May 2008. – Good definition of light. – The greedy relatives just waiting for the heritage of the old uncle. The curse of the witch dating to the year 1676. The Black Forest. The counterfeit priest. The library focused on witchcraft. A murder mystery involving ingenious disguises and deceptions. The bizarre funeral instructions of the eccentric uncle. – There are so many double bottoms in this story that it loses something of its impact.

Nous sommes tous des assassins

Hiipivät askeleet / Smygande steg / We Are All Murderers. FR / IT 1952. PC: UGC / Labor Film / Jolly Film. D: André Cayatte. SC: Cayatte, Charles Spaak. DP: Jean Bourgoin. M: Raymond Legrand. Starring Marcel Mouloudji (René Le Guen), Georges Poujouly (Michel Le Guen), Raymond Pellegrin (Gino Bollini), Yvonne Sanson (Yvonne Le Guen). 117 min. A vintage print from Valio-Filmi with Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 May 2008. - "Un film à thèse". Subject: capital punishment. - A worn print with several joins but also with a beautiful definition of light. - Seeing this film for the first time I expected a mechanical study in social criticism. Surprise! - The lively portrayal of the Occupation. - The milieu of crime and brutalization. - We come to understand the mind of the killer. - A classic portrayal of Death Row. - The convicts are not sentimentalized or softened. We take steps to understand criminals in a way that would have fascinated Dostoyevsky.