Deep Archive Finds Movies That Echo the Spirit of Midinettes: Cult ...

Dir: René Hervil

A mother loses first her son and then her husband in the trenches of France during the First World War. She devotes herself to the French cause and to helping those wounded in the war.

Dir: René Hervil

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Le ruisseau perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A naval officer has to abandon a young girl he has rescued as a stowaway, to the mercies of his sleazy show business mother and her plans.

Dir: René Hervil

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: René Hervil

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Azaïs perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: René Hervil

Flora Nys, a poor flower girl of Paris faces hard times. Her rent overdue, Le Baron, the landlord, oppresses her and puts before her a shady proposition. Indignantly she orders him out of her room. When she takes up her flowers, preparatory to going forth to sell them, she discovers that Le Baron has trampled on them. Tempted by her poverty she steals a fur in a department store. Le Baron sees her and follows her into the street where the girl, conscience-stricken, throws it away. Le Baron picks it up and follows her to the home of Paul Bernard, an actor, who every year gives a Christmas party to certain poor children of Paris. Bernard redeems the fur and, attracted by Flora's loveliness, asks her to become his wife. In time, Flora becomes an expert dancer and leading woman at Bernard's theatre. Gray Stanton, a wealthy rounder, attracts Flora. He endeavors to entice her away from her husband in which task he is assisted by Le Baron, who harbors revenge. On the night of the opening of a new production, Flora deserts the theatre, influenced by a trumped up story regarding Stanton's injury. She discovers the lie and returns to Paris to discover that her husband is suffering from an attack of brain fever occasioned by her flight. She devotes her time in efforts to bring back his memory and finally when another Christmas rolls around she dons her old clothes and sits before the open fire place as she did when Bernard first met her. This has the desired effect. Bernard's memory is restored and he readily forgives the past when he learns the unhappy story of Stanton from his wife's own lips. Motion Picture News, December 14, 1918

Dir: René Hervil

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Le secret de Polichinelle perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A Paris night club proprietor falls from grace and is reduced, after going away for a while, to working there in a menial position.

Dir: René Hervil

Bicard nicknamed Le Bouif earns 1,000 francs for lending his body to the experiments conducted by Professor Caligari. Further adventures await him when he encounters Ladislas, a young reveler, who happens to be the crown prince of Corinthia. This one, who favors living it up over his royal duty, commissions Bicard to replace him on the throne...

Dir: René Hervil

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Infatuation perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Jeanne Doré's profligate husband is hopelessly addicted to gambling, and is threatened with expulsion from his club because of his heavy indebtedness to another gambler member. Confessing his disgrace to his wife (Mme. Bernhardt), she offers to save him from disgrace by selling her jewels. With the money thus obtained he goes to his club, determined to pay his debts and live up to the pledge he has made to his wife to gamble no more. However, the lure of the roulette wheel overcomes his resolve; he loses all his money on "just one more turn of the wheel," and rather than face his disgrace, commits suicide. Left with her young son to support, Jeanne Doré is forced to sell her remaining possessions and live as best she can until her husband's uncle takes pity upon her and buys for her a small stationery shop in Paris. Here mother and son prosper until the boy reaches early manhood. One day he falls suddenly and violently in love with a married woman, who comes to his mother's shop to make purchases. An intrigue with the unscrupulous female leads the young man to murder the same uncle who had befriended himself and mother. The youth, with the assistance of Jeanne Doré, makes good his escape. Well clear of immediate capture, the boy comes back to the scene of his crime and succeeds in his efforts to once more affect a liaison with his mistress. By accident he is discovered and captured, thrown into jail, is tried and convicted of the murder and sentenced to the guillotine. Even in these desperate straits he seeks to gain some response to his affection for the woman, who promptly spurned and repudiated him. He prevails upon his devoted mother to become a messenger in his service and her appeals, likewise, fall upon deaf ears. Instead of telling the boy that her quest has been fruitless, Jeanne Doré goes to the prison herself, on the evening before the boy's neck is to be given to the knife, and poses as the woman he had expressed himself, to his own mother, as the one he most wished to see. The boy goes to the guillotine, and the final scene depicts the devoted mother in the extreme agony of watching, from a window across the street, the execution of her son.

Dir: René Hervil

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: René Hervil

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.