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man, a sailor". But Michel is selfish and exploits his father's blind affection, and as he grows up, hating the sea, he becomes addicted to the pleasures of the town, lured into bad behaviour by his friend Guenn-la-Taupe. At an Easter celebration, the only occasion of the year when Nolff and his family join the townspeople in their festivities, Nolff's wife becomes ill, and while she is taken home Michel escapes to a disreputable bar in the town to consort with the dancer Lia. Djenna comes to fetch him to his mother's bedside, but Michel slips back into the bar, where he gets into a fight with Lia's protector and stabs him. Nolff pays for Michel's release from gaol, but when they return home, they find his mother dead.
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Less welcome recognition came from the French censor. One week after the film's release it had to be withdrawn from screening because of objections to parts of the scene of the "bouge" which showed some lascivious kissing and caresses between two women. L'Herbier negotiated with the censor and made
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A detailed programme of tinting for the entire film gave a complex interplay of colour contrasts, both between scenes and in individual sequences: for instance, the scenes in the town bar (the "bouge") are tinted in a lurid red, and intercut with the mauve-tinted scenes showing the feverish mother at
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Years before... Full of contempt for mankind and life on land, Nolff has built his house on a remote cliff-top, and devotes himself to his fishing and to his wife and children: his daughter Djenna, hard-working and dutiful, and his son Michel whom he idolises and is determined to bring up as "a free
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n'est pas la narration de faits expliquĂ©s et reliĂ©s par des sous-titres, mais un succession d'images dont le message a la valeur d'une idĂ©e; d'idĂ©ogrammes... Les sous-titres ne viennent pas prendre la place d'une image pour dire en quelques phrases ce qui semblait inexprimable. Ils se superposent Ă
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described it as "the first example of film writing". He argued that the film was not just a narrative of events linked together by intertitles, but a sequence of images whose message conveyed an idea; the superimposed titles reinforced the images in the manner of ideograms. While some critics were
332:, where he sought the wild landscapes which would establish the story's moral contrast between the pure grandeur of the sea and the corrupt temptations of the town. For the first time he had an "assistant director", a young man called Raymond Payelle who would soon take the professional name of
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Needing money to spend on Lia, Michel steals the savings which his mother had kept for Djenna, but he is caught and denounced by Nolff, who vows "to return him to God". Nolff ties Michel in the bottom of an open boat and pushes it out to sea. He then adopts the life of a hermit beside the sea,
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troubled by the contrast between the film's natural environment of coast and sea and its aesthetic use of frequent editing wipes, irises and superimpositions, there was broader appreciation for the rhythmic structure of shots and sequences, forming what L'Herbier saw as a "musical composition".
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while Djenna enters a convent. Months later, Djenna receives a letter from Michel: he has survived and is now a changed man, earning his living as a sailor. When Nolff hears that Michel wants to return home, he cries out to the sea in remorse for his judgment of his son.
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L'Herbier also took an original approach to the use of intertitles which, instead of being inserted between shots of the film, were integrated into the image itself so that they formed part of the visual design and did not interrupt the flow of the film.
422:. It involved the reconstruction of many of the intertitles and the scheme of colour tinting using L'Herbier's original notes. The work was completed for presentation in 2001. An original orchestral score was composed by
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L'Herbier's structure for the narrative was original in that it started at the end and then told the story in flashback: he claimed that this was the first time that this device been used in the cinema.
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some small cuts in the scene, so as "to show less and suggest more". Screenings of the film resumed, and some months later L'Herbier re-inserted the censored material into the original negative.
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Nolff, a devout Breton fisherman, has taken a vow of silence and lives as a hermit beside the sea. No-one comes near him except the white-clad novice who brings him food.
203:, Gaumont allowed him more resources for his next project, and in the spring of 1920 he drafted a scenario based loosely on a philosophical short story by Balzac called
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373:, so that the two could be presented together. L'Herbier rapidly devised a pastiche of a tale of Oscar Wilde and a parody of a detective story which was called
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in Paris. It was enthusiastically received by both the public and the press. Its critical reputation was well-sustained in subsequent years. Film archivist
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indicated to L'Herbier that he would like another film from him, a lighter one to contrast with the sombre drama of
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Michelle Aubert, Jean-Louis Cot et Mireille Beaulieu. (An illustrated account of the restoration process.)
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Marie Martin, "'Féerie réaliste': onirisme et pratiques maniéristes dans l'œuvre de Marcel L'Herbier, de
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In June 1920, L'Herbier took a large crew to
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creating atmosphere in a film about the forces of good and evil that motivate human behaviour.
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issued on DVD in 2009; p.5: "le premier exemple d'écriture cinématographique...
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381:. The two films received their trade showing together on 31 October 1920.
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213:(1917), but now to treat it more lyrically. He gave his story the title
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572:. (Paris: Belfond, 1979) p.52: "Bref montrer moins en suggérant plus".
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426:. A DVD of the restored version was issued by Gaumont in 2009.
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In 1998 a detailed restoration of the film was undertaken by
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Michelle Aubert, Jean-Louis Cot et
Mireille Beaulieu.
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Booklet accompanying the CNC/Gaumont restoration of
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Booklet accompanying the CNC/Gaumont restoration of
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177:) is a 1920 French silent film directed by
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336:. Also in his team as a set-designer was
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1004:Films based on works by Honoré de Balzac
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459:Jaque Catelain présente Marcel L'Herbier
557:French Cinema: the First Wave 1915-1929
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546:l'image pour en souligner le sens...".
393:took place on 3 December 1920 at the
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1009:Films directed by Marcel L'Herbier
524:. (Paris: Belfond, 1979) pp.51-52.
477:. (Paris: Belfond, 1979) pp.48-49.
445:. (Paris: Belfond, 1979) pp.47-48.
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509:Marcel L'Herbier: l'art du cinéma
782:The Perfume of the Lady in Black
602:(retrieved on 26 February 2010).
418:Archives françaises du film and
461:. (Paris: Vautrain, 1950) p.43.
774:The Mystery of the Yellow Room
490:issued on DVD in 2009; pp.8-9.
389:The first public screening of
344:made his début in the cinema.
181:and based on a short story by
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1024:Films based on short fiction
999:French black-and-white films
365:As soon as it was finished,
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51:Marcel L'Herbier (scenario)
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638:de Marcel L'Herbier (1920)
600:de Marcel L'Herbier (1920)
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206:Un drame au bord de la mer
1019:Silent French drama films
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120:3 December 1920
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958:The Last Days of Pompeii
926:The Honourable Catherine
140:85 minutes (2256 metres)
692:Le Carnaval des vérités
200:Le Carnaval des vérités
966:The Father of the Girl
862:The Citadel of Silence
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902:La Comédie du bonheur
740:Little Devil May Care
950:The Queen's Necklace
629:at Filmsdefrance.com
175:Man of the Open Seas
918:La Nuit fantastique
878:Adrienne Lecouvreur
758:La Femme d'une nuit
634:La Restauration de
596:La Restauration de
533:Henri Langlois, in
505:La Nuit fantastique
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724:Feu Mathias Pascal
678:Films directed by
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568:Marcel L'Herbier,
522:La TĂŞte qui tourne
520:Marcel L'Herbier,
475:La TĂŞte qui tourne
473:Marcel L'Herbier,
443:La TĂŞte qui tourne
441:Marcel L'Herbier,
338:Claude Autant-Lara
285:as Un des copains
279:as Un des copains
277:Claude Autant-Lara
273:as Guenn-la-Taupe
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961:(1948-1950)
937:(1942-1945)
838:The New Men
798:The Scandal
716:L'Inhumaine
642:(in French)
501:Rose France
410:Restoration
301:Lili Samuel
267:as La mère
157:Silent film
38:Directed by
989:1920 films
983:Categories
814:Le Bonheur
790:L'Épervier
732:Le Vertige
430:References
379:Humoresque
320:Production
313:Pâquerette
261:as Djenna
253:Roger Karl
249:as Michel
211:Le Torrent
193:Background
169:(English:
124:1920-12-03
96:Production
68:Roger Karl
48:Written by
854:The Cheat
708:El Dorado
503:(1918) Ă
385:Reception
330:Finistère
255:as Nolff
106:SĂ©rie Pax
85:Edited by
16:1920 film
870:Rasputin
749:L'Argent
326:Morbihan
187:Brittany
153:Language
61:Starring
420:Gaumont
291:as Lia
145:Country
122: (
104:Gaumont
98:company
56:(story)
969:(1953)
953:(1946)
945:(1946)
929:(1943)
921:(1942)
913:(1941)
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695:(1920)
356:home.
219:Marine
148:France
621:IMDb
328:and
241:Cast
225:Plot
619:at
416:CNC
173:or
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