Tweet Capellani pictures on DVD

I just read that Pathé is releasing a 4-DVD box of Albert Capellani pictures on May 11th, 2011. No details yet on the film titles. I just hope that La Glu, Germinal and Les Misérables will be included.

Link to Amazon.fr

I'll be back when more details become available. I am really overjoyed to see that Pathé is at last releasing some silents. Albert Capellani was one of their major directors in the teens. Germinal is quite incredible for a 1913 picture. I rank it among the best teen pictures I have ever seen.

Sounds good, though I'd have to have my dad over so he could read the inter-titles to me. ^_^

I should note that my dad speaks and reads French and I don't.

I'm looking forward to the Pathe set, but I have to disagree with your assessment of GERMINAL, which struck me as being possessed of the fault of many 'respectful' filmizations of the era -- the failure to understand that the cinema was its own art and that you cannot compress a novel into a 150-minute film without changing the emphasis and losing some of the details. Antoine's later films suffered from the same flaw.

Bob

I have seen so far 6 Capellani features. Germinal is already a very long feature for that time. But, I was really impressed by the characterization given by Sylvie as Catherine Maheu. She really fills the screen with her fascinating gaze and body. BTW this actress had a great career later in talkies. Her performance in Le Corbeau (HG Clouzot, 1943) is unforgettable. Obviously the film is a 'reduced' version of the Zola book, but nevertheless it stroke me as providing the 'Zola spirit'. Capellani had a brilliant visual sense in my opinion. By a funny coincidence, I saw L'Assommoir (1909), another Zola adaptation by Capellani today. It's much more reduced (36 min!) than the other one. It verges on the pamphlet against alcoholism, but nevertheless, some scenes are brilliantly done : the fight between Virginie and Gervaise or the birthday lunch with all the guests filling themselves like mad. The final with Coupeau dying after a spell of DT is rather OTT. But overall, it's very impressive for a film made in 1908.

He had a substantial career in the US in the late teens. I'd love to see some of those films (Camille and The Red Lantern seem to exist at Gosfilmofond). He must have retired in 1922 and died in 1931. His brother Paul, who he directed in several films, seems to have only made a couple of films after 1922, though he lived until 1960.

greta

He had a substantial career in the US in the late teens. I'd love to see some of those films (Camille and The Red Lantern seem to exist at Gosfilmofond). He must have retired in 1922 and died in 1931. His brother Paul, who he directed in several films, seems to have only made a couple of films after 1922, though he lived until 1960.

greta

Greta, altough I havent seen the film myself, I hear that THE RED LANTERN was preserved by the Cinematheque Royale of Belgium, and that there were plans to release it on DVD

Here are the details of the Capellani boxset (40 p. booklet included):

4 features:
1. L’assommoir - 1908 (35’46” - B&W)
2. Germinal - 1913 (148’ - tinted)
3. Le chevalier de Maison Rouge - 1914 (108’ - tinted)
4. Quatre-vingt-treize - 1921 (145’ - tinted)

7 shorts:
5. Drame passionnel - 1906 (6’35” - tinted)
6. Mortelle idylle - 1906 (5’30” - B&W)
7. Pauvre mère - 1906 (5’55” - B&W)
8. La fille du sonneur - 1906 (10’04” - tinted)
9. La femme du lutteur - 1906 (5’07” - B&W)
10. L’âge du coeur - 1906 (4’06” - B&W)
11. Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse - 1906 (13’20” - tints and colors)

Will it have the option of English intertitles?

No informations available regarding subs for the moment. But I doubt it. Pathé never included English subs in their previous DVD releases.

Awesome Sound,keep sharing,and Antoine's later films suffered from the same flaw.

I received the box yesterday. Overall the transfers are gorgeous. Most of the prints are recent done for the 2010 Bologna Festival. Only Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three) is an older restoration from 1985.
It's a small cardboard box containing the 4 discs inserted in cardboard holders. The libretto contains a very good article by Richard Abel, the greatest specialist of the period. The other texts are not so interesting.
The discs are region 2. There are no supplements and no subtitles. All films are accompanied by a pianist, Maxence Cyrin who does a competent job (though lacking some extra sparkle to make it really take off).
Here are some caps.
Germinal:


I watched Quatre-vingt-treize last night. I'll come back for a review later. But I loved it.

Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-three, 1914/1921) by Albert Capellani & André Antoine with Paul Capellani, Henry Krauss and Philippe Garnier

The story takes place in Brittany in 1793 during the Terror. While the Marquess of Lantenac (P. Garnier) joins the Chouans (royalist insurgents), his nephew Gauvain (P. Capellani) becomes a soldier in the Revolutionary army. The third character is the former priest, Cimourdain, who becomes the head of the Revolutionary army. He was the one who opened Gauvain's eyes to the new ideas by giving him Rousseau to read. In this adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel the destiny of the three characters are heading for collision. The film shooting was stopped abruptly by the beginning of WWI. A few years later, André Antoine took over as Capellani was unavailable to finish it as he was in America. The film didn't came out until 1921. Obviously, in the space of 7 years, cinema had moved forward dramatically and Quatre-vingt-treize was undoubtedly dated when it came out. But if we look at it as a 1914 picture, it's a tremendous achievement. The adaptation manages to show the evolution of all three characters and the kind of dilemna they have to face when making decisions. Lantenac is a ruthless royalist. He disguises himself as a Brittany peasant and becomes the chief of a guerilla (the Chouans). He orders the death of women or any man who failed his duty. His nephew Gauvain is the most humane of the three. He spares the life of his enemies several times. Cimourdain can be compared with Lantenac in his blind obedience to the Revolution precepts. Nevertheless, all three will have to modify their point of views later. Lantenac will show humanity when saving the lives of three innocent children, he had himself kidnapped. Gauvain will want to save his uncle and Cimourdain is face with an ever bigger dilemna. Can he send to the guillotine Gauvain whom he considers like a son? The result is a tremendous 2h45 picture with some wonderful Brittany landscapes, but also quite a bit of painted backdrops. Pathé is quite notorious for these compared with Gaumont who always used three-dimensional sets. However, the three lead actors give tremendous performances. Considering that the film contains only one close-up (the final shot), they managed to express their ideals, frustrations and emotions remarkably without any windmill acting. Paul Capellani, Albert's brother, is a moving Gauvain, looking very dashing on his horse. Henry Krauss, who worked in many Capellani pictures, is also a great Cimourdain. It has to be noted that the scene with the three gods (Marat, Danton and Robespierre) was used later again by Gance in Napoléon. Overall a tremendous picture on a par with Germinal.


Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge (The Knight of Maison-Rouge, 1914) Albert Capellani with Paul Escoffier, Marie-Louise Deval, Henri Rollan and Georges Dorival

We are again during the French Revolution shortly before the execution of Marie-Antoinette in 1793. But this Dumas novel is mostly a story of plots, intrigues and love mixed with historical events. The Knight of Maison-Rouge is trying to organise the escape of the Queen. In diguise, he becomes an employee of his brother-in-law, Dixmer. His sister Geneviève, Dixmer's wife, is obviously asked to participate. Sometimes, she is told to do it. She meets a young French officier, Maurice Lindey who saves her and she falls in love with him. As the plot unfolds, their lives will be put at risk. Again, there is some use of painted brackdrops mixed with some superb real locations (like this back alley above). Overall, we are in the world of the serial with many twists and turns. The plotters are virtually uncovered when a jailer finds the message for the Queen inside a carnation. But, stupidly, he lets it escape through the window. The relief is short lived as the Queen's dog makes the jailers discover the entrance to the tunnel. Again, the acting is of very high quality. Unlike the novel which ended tragically (nearly all Dumas' novels end tragically), we have a happy end which looks plausible. The print is a recent restoration and looks extremely good. A really entertaining film.

[Mike Gebert]

Thanks, Ann, for the detailed accounts of these films.

It's a pleasure, Mike. At the moment, the box is at 36 euros on amazon.fr. I think it's a steal. Obviously, it's region 2 and without subs. But, I feel Capellani deserves to be known. His work in the teens is amazing. I watched recently The Spoilers (1914, C. Campbell). It's incredibly messy in terms of storytelling in comparison, not to mention the camerawork. Capellani and Perret were both amazing directors.

There's a 2010 Bordwell blog on Capellani here (some of the films discussed are on the DVD set, some are not). Although generally enthusiastic about him, there are a few negative comments and I was rather put off by

Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge (1914), proved a slight let-down. Capellani had a penchant for substituting letters and other texts for intertitles, but this film pushes the device to the point where sometimes it seemed as if every other shot was an insert.

I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but inserts (being often hard to read) challenge my basic French much more than standard intertitles. Are these films more difficult to follow than other French features of the period if one isn't fluent in reading the language?

I would say Germinal is the easiest to follow. The titles are short and easy to understand. Quatre-vingt-treize uses sometimes Hugo quotes and might be more difficult as it uses words less common. As for Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge, the titles are sometimes a trifle wordy. If you have a good synopsis, you should be able to manage.

Recently, I had an interesting experience. The Cinémathèque showed a French silent without credits and titles. I had read a synopsis beforehand and I managed to follow the story.

Germinal (1913) Albert Capellani with Henry Krauss, Sylvie, Jean Jacquinet and Cécile Guyon

This adaptation of one of Emile Zola's most famous novels is a masterpiece. Watching it for the second time, it ranks for me among the best early features I have ever seen with L'Enfant de Paris (1913, Léonce Perret) and Ingeborg Holm (1913, Victor Sjöström). But beyond that, it's a brilliant piece of storytelling, visually and dramatically. Shot in the north of France, in a coal mining city, it recreates so vividly the world described by Zola that it almost feels like watching a newsreel.
We follow the destiny of Etienne Lantier (Henry Krauss), who having lost his job, goes to Monsou to become a miner. Once there, he meets Maheu (Mevisto) and his family. His daughter Catherine works down the mine as a hercheuse (she fills and pushes wagons of coal). Lantier falls in love with her, but she is promised to the violent Chaval (J. Jacquinet).
The film is dominated by the performances of both Sylvie (Catherine Maheu) and Henry Krauss (Etienne Lantier). Sylvie plays with all the skills of a seasoned performer. watching her, I felt like looking at a 20s actress. She moves, laughs and walks totally naturally. At that time, she was 30 and worked with the great stage (and later movie) director André Antoine. He was then famous for the quality and modernity of his actors' direction. Sylvie has a great chemistry with Henry Krauss as Lantier. They exchange smiles and glances in a very understated way which speaks volume. Each of their encounters is charged with electricity. Whether she smiles filling his glass with water - as he refused the strong alcohol drunk by the family - or when they meet by chance in the street, or down the mine, sharing her lunch. I noticed that Capellani seems to be particularly inspired by the locations and visually the film gains immensely compared with Les Misérables (1913) for example. When Lantier arrives in the mining town, the camera pans slowly revealing the coal pit and the corons (miners' terraced houses in bricks). Henry Krauss gives his Lantier all the energy and subtelty necessary. He creates a great contrast with the diminutive Sylvie. The film remains a record of the lives of miners in the XIXth century. They were proud of their work, in spite of the dangers they had to face every day. They are also exploited by a ruthless boss. Their strike will lead to violence and death. Nearly 100 years later, the film has kept its emotional power. The death of the strikers, shot by soldiers sends shivers down your spine. And Lantier's despair in front of Catherine's dead body can still bring a tear.
There is a great economy in terms of titles. Many things remain unsaid, but are told visually so clearly that we can understand immediately what's happening. During one scene at a fun fair, it's obvious that the camera is going to a real fun fair as many onlookers are looking interested at the camera (see picture above). The narrative is beautifully constructed leading to several climaxes. The opening and ending of the film makes the story come full circle. Lantier arrives in the town and at the end, he watches it in the distance as he prepares to leave it.
Just for that film, I would say that box is worth the purchase. A really great picture of the teens.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this elsewhere, but there will be another DVD with Capellani shorts presented at the Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna this year, curated by Mariann Lewinsky (in continuation of their 'hundred years ago' DVD series).

Thanks Elif for the information. Do you know the titles of the short films? Are they different from the ones in the Pathé-Capellani DVD box?

Thanks Elif for the information. Do you know the titles of the short films? Are they different from the ones in the Pathé-Capellani DVD box?

HI Anne,
yes I do know, and in fact we have 4 films in there from the EYE collection. But I think it may be wiser to wait for Bologna to announce it first. They are definitely different ones from the other box, since Pathe/Gaumont is co-producer of this one too.

Hmm, This looks like an interesting collection. I don't recall having seen any of these titles before.

Thanks Elif for the information. Do you know the titles of the short films? Are they different from the ones in the Pathé-Capellani DVD box?

Hi everyone, I asked Mariann Lewinsky (who is curating the Capellani DVD) if it was ok to share the contents of her upcoming DVD with you, and she told me to go ahead.
So the DVD should contain the following films (but there may be last minute changes/additions):

DVD Albert Capellani, 1905-1911 (Mariann Lewinsky/Cineteca di Bologna)

* L'Epouvante 1911 208m 10' colour (tinting and toning) Star: Mistinguett

Le Pain des petits oiseaux 1911 240m 13' BW Star: Napierkowska

* L'Intrigante 1911 162m 9' COL teintage

Mariée du chateau maudit 1910 221m 12' stencil

Evadé des Tuileries 1910 252m 14' BW

La Mort du Duc d'Enghien 1909 270m 15' bw

L'Arlésienne 1908 350m 20' BW

L'Homme au gants blanc 1908 ca 200m 10' BW (new restoration)

Samson 1908 300m 15' stencil

Cendrillon 1907 295m 15' teintage

* Amour d'Esclave 1907 203m 10'

Le Pied de Mouton 1907 275m 15' colour (pochoir / stencil)

Les Deux soeurs 1907 200m 10' bw

Loi du Pardon 1906

* Le Chemineau 1905 105m 6' colour (toning)

Bonus: Illustrated Filmography of Albert Capellani

I indicated the four films from the EYE collection with a (*).
The DVD is planned to be released as the Cinema Ritrovato Festival begins, on June 25th.

Thanks for the information, Elif. It looks like a must have to me.

I just started to explore the Cineteca di Bologna DVD with 12 Capellani shorts. So far, it's really a must-have with some great films. The R2 DVD has French, Italian & English subs with a trilingual booklet.


L'épouvante (The Terror, 1911) with Mistinguett and Emile Milo

An actress (Mistinguett) finds a thief hiding under her bed. With such a simple story, Capellani creates a beautifully engineered short with some pretty incredible camera angles for the time. As Mistinguett is lighting a cigarette in her bed, the camera tracks back revealing the thief underneath the bed. As the throws the match, she discovers with terror a hand coming from under the bed (in high-angle shot). She escapes from the room while the thief climbs on the roof. But as he grabs the gutter, he is about to fall if his victim didn't save him in time. The suspense is beautifully done and the acting top-notch. A brilliant little thriller.


Le Pain des petits oiseaux (Bread for the birds, 1911) with Stacia Napierkowska

An old man who likes to feed the birds helps a young hungry waif. She becomes a famous dancer thanks to him. The story is again very well balanced and structured. The director offers us some reverse angle shots which were pretty unusual at the time. Napierkowska was a famous dancer from the Paris Opéra-Comique at the time. I hated her overacted Esmeralda in Capellani's Notre-Dame de Paris (1911). But here, she is natural and is very convincing as the waif. The film closes with an ending showing we have gone full-circle: the waif now famous helps the old man now in need. A very nice short.


L'intrigante (The Schemer, 1911) with Catherine Fonteney

This short follows a nasty female tutor who plans to marry the father of her pupil. She does all she can to get rid of the girl while having an affair with another man. The story resolves itself beautifully as the girl cleverly captures her nasty tutor with her lover with a camera, through a peephole. Again, the film structure is extremely well done with some great reverse angle shots.


L'Homme aux gants blancs (A Pair of White Gloves, 1908) with Henri Desfontaines and Jacques Grétillat

This 17-min short was amazingly shot in 1908. It's an extremely advanced picture for the time. Just think about it, Griffith was just starting to make pictures while Capellani shows already an incredible mastery of film grammar. The film even contains a triptych when a hotel employee calls to order some gloves for a hotel guest. The central panel shows the avenue de l'Opera. I never thought this kind of technique had been used so early. The story is equally amazing in its complexity. An elegant robber steals a necklace from a lady. As he leaves, he loses a pair of white gloves he just purchased. The man is elegant and wouldn't think of going out without them. But the lost gloves are picked up by another thief who kills the same lady. The robber is accused and taken away by the police. The real murderer contemplates the scene on the pavement as the robber is driven away. The pacing and structure are top-notch. One of the most amazing pre-teen pictures I have ever seen.

"The film even contains a triptych when a hotel employee calls to order some gloves for a hotel guest. The central panel shows the avenue de l'Opera. I never thought this kind of technique had been used so early."

Hi Anne,
I dont know which dates you have in mind, but this kind of triptych to show telephone conversations seem to be quite commonly used around 1912. It is in AMOUR ET MUSIQUE, for example and later in 1914 in the Russian film A WOMAN OF TOMORROW (I had a frame grab, but will need to look for it). There are more examples, but these are the ones I can recall.

Glad to hear you like the Capellani DVD; I wasn't in Bologna, so I am waiting it to arrive by post.

Hi Elif, the earliest example of a triptych I had seen was in Le Homard (The Lobster), a Léonce Perret comedy shot in Oct. 1912. It goes beyond the usual telephone conversation. In this film, Léonce is on holidays in Brittany. His wife (Suzanne Grandais) wishes to eat lobster. He promises to go fish it himself. But, once by the sea, he finds it too rough. Instead, he pays a fisherman to do it for him and goes to the movies. The triptych shows Suzanne praying for her husband as she fears the worst, in the middle the rough sea, and Léonce roaring with laughter at the movies.

Now I amazed that Capellani did it as early as 1908!

I found the other Capellani DVD on Amazon.it ("Cento anni fa. Albert Capellani. Un cinema di grandeur 1905-1911. DVD (Il cinema ritrovato") but it's not available for purchase:

http://www.amazon.it/Albert-Capellani-g ... 529&sr=8-2

Price: EUR 17,91

You can purchase it directly from la Cineteca di Bologna: Here.

A few more Capellani shorts.


Le Chemineau (The Vagabond, 1905)

This 5-min short is an illustration of the first chapters of Les Misérables, when Valjean, just out of jail, finds shelter in Monseigneur Myriel's house. He then steals the man's silverware. He is caught by the police, but the benign bishop tells them it was a gift. The last scene is missing for the print. Nevertheless, it's an impressive film. The first shot shows the vagabond walking directly towards the camera until his face fills the whole screen. This is a very audacious CU for 1905. A little later, the camera pans the entire surface of Myriel's house as we move from the dining-room to the bedroom. There is a real pictorial sense in the first scene showing the vagabond walking under the snow. It's no surprise Capellani went back to Victor Hugo in 1912 to make a 2h45 version of Les Misérables.


L'Arlésienne (1908) with Jeanne Grumbach, Jean-Marié de L'Isle and Henri Desfontaines

This adaptation of Alphonse Daudet's play is a poetic masterpiece. In 1922, André Antoine, one of Capellani's mentors, made a feature film of the same play. I think the Capellani version, though only 18 min long, is even better. The film was considered lost until it resurfaced last year at Lobster Films. Leaving behind the studios, Capellani goes to Arles to capture the spirit of the Southern region of France, so important in this love and death story. The story is simple. A young man, Frédéric, meets an Arlésienne (a girl from the city of Arles) and falls madly in love. Alas, she leaves him a gardian (herdsman). Obsessed by the girl, Frédéric commits suicide. The neat trick used by Daudet in his play was never to show the girl in question. So much so that 'l'arlésienne' has entered the common language as something often talked about, but never seen. Capellani, unlike Daudet, shows us the girl from the start. (Antoine will do the same). The cinematography uses cleverly sunlight and shade. I felt I could feel the strong wind that blows in the olive groves near Arles. Again, the camera movements amazed me. As Frédéric and the girl are walking around looking over the city, the camera pans 180°. Then, later as Frédéric's obsessions are getting worse, the girl fades in by the river. Then, she quickly fades out. These double exposures are extremely cleverly done and enhance the story immensely. The second time, he sees the girl, she takes the place of his fiancee and he runs away terrified. And finally, as he is alone in the farm barn, he sees her embracing her lover. Gone mad, he rushes towards them and crashes down as he falls from the top of the barn. I found the film poetic and beautifully executed.


La Mort du Duc d'Enghien en 1804 (The Death of the Duke d'Enghien in 1804, 1909) with Georges Grand, Germaine Dermoz and Henri Houry
This short is showing an historical event taking place place during the Napoleonic times. The Duke d'Enghien, suspected of plotting against Napoleon was arrested and later shot in Vincennes. The print from the Cinémathèque Française used in the DVD has no title cards. We are told they were unable to find any. I have the feeling they didn't look very far to find them as Richard Abel in his excellent book, The Ciné Goes to Town - French Cinema 1896-1914, mentions a NFA print with lengthy titles. Even without titles, it's fairly easy to follow the story. Capellani uses a mixture of studio sets and historical locations, avoiding a stagy feeling.

I should add that John Sweeney's piano accompaniment is top-notch. He has the knack to create an atmosphere and to enhance the emotions displayed on the screen. Brilliant job!

I am posting this on behalf of Mariann Lewinsky who emailed me to say she has been unable to register to Nitrateville so far. Nevertheless, she has been following this thread and would like to thank Ann Harding and answer to her about a remark on the NFA print of LA MORT DU DUC D'ENGHIEN EN 1804:
"Dear Ann,
as curator of the Capellani programmes in Bologna and the DVD whith the shorts I read with much interest your comments and appreciations. Thank you very much!
Your remark on the NFA print of the DUC D'ENGHIEN made me check my notes, as I have seen that print in 2009 in London. Notes are very short, stating that the print is incomplete - it lacks the execution and ending whith the dog jumping into the grave and for this reason I preferred the CF print for the festival and the dvd - and that the titles are in German which means that it's print from the Joye collection. The CF print without intertitles is 190m long, the NFA print without finale 174m, which does not give much allowance to lengthy intertitles, but I will certainly look again at the print at the next occasion!
best and thanks, Mariann