Cento anni fà 3 – Pronti per il lungometraggio

A Hundred Years Ago 3 – Coming Attraction: Feature Length
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand Piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed at Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2009.

- The first French feature film according to Henri Bousquet: L'Assommoir, 40 min. A complete print that has recently surfaced in Belgium was screened.

Roman d’une bottine et d’un escarpin. FR 1909. D: Georges Monca. CAST: Georges Tréville, Suzanne Demay; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 170 m. English intertitles. B&w. From: BFINA. - The meeting of the shoes tells the love story. Partially a good definition of light.
Les deux devoirs / Berufspflicht. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 172 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: AFF/CNC. - The calling of the doctor. The demonstration. Partially a good definition of light. 10 min.
Roman d’une écuyère / Der abgewiesene Verehrer. FR 1909. D: Camille de Morlhon. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 240 m. Tinted. From: NFM. - Deutsche Zwischentitel. The circus world: the husband is a clown, the wife is an acrobatic rider. Of course there is the triangle drama, the clown falls from the trapeze, falls into the gutter, takes care of the child, but the wife begs to return. 13 min.
Une corderie / Seilerei. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 82 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: BFINA. - Fascinating non-fiction of the many phases of producing rope. 5 min. *
L’Assommoir. FR 1909. D: Albert Capellani. Based on the novel by Emile Zola (1877); SC: Albert Capellani, Michel Carré; CAST: Eugène Nau (Gervaise), Catherine Fontenay (Virginie), Alexandre Arquillière (Coupeau), Jacques Grétillaat (Lantier); PC: S.C.A.G.L. – Pathé. 35mm. 740 m. B&w. From: Archives Gaumont-Pathé. - A fascinating discovery. Interesting visual space, full of life, lively tableaux. - The women's fight in the laundry. The wedding in 1872 (Gervaise, Coupeau). - Excellent cinematography. - The jealous Virginie sets the trap for Coupeau at the scaffold of the building site. - During his long invalid period Coupeau becomes an alcoholist. - A fine dinner banquet scene. - Virginie revenges by fuelling Coupeau's alcohol addiction. - Coupeau loses the wager on strong drink at the tavern. The fight over the woman. - Coupeau is hospitalized, and is forbidden to drink strong alcohol. Virginie's last revenge leads to an extended danse macabre. - This episodic film, based on tableaux, follows reportedly the popular theatre adaption of the grim novel. 40 min. *

Germinal (1913)

004819 / G / FR / 1913 / Capellani, Albert / historical drama

Germinal / Germinal eller den stora grufkatastrofen. PC: Société Cinématographique des Auteurs et Gens de Lettre (SCAGL). A Pathé release. D+SC: Albert Capellani - from the novel by Emile Zola. DP: Louis Forestier. CAST: Henry Krauss (Etienne Lantier), Sylvie (Catherine), Jacquinet (Chaval). B&w, silent. A brilliant print of the 1986 restoration from La Cinémathèque Francaise by Renée Lichtig. 3017 m /18 fps/ 146’, projected at /24 fps/ 110’. Somnambulistic piano accompaniment by Jasse Varpama. Well rehearsed Finnish earphone translation by Leena Talvio. Viewed at SEA, Cinema Orion, Helsinki, Sunday, 28 September 1997. ** It was a joy to see an exquisite print do justice to the archaic long-take, deep-space tableaux of Germinal. The furious depiction of the war between labour and capital invites comparison to Griffith’s Intolerance: here, too, finally, armed forces crush the rebels. In Germinal, seeing the carnage, the commander bursts into tears. In contrast to Griffith the camera is static, there are no close-ups, and there is no montage. The intertitles give away the action in advance. On the other hand, the composition is impeccable, the movement of the masses dynamically conveyed, and Germinal has documentary fascination as a portrait of a primitive phase of the industrial society. Interestingly, the actors are relatively subdued, and the sadness at the death of both of the leading ladies is moving.