Maurice Tourneur shot his first film in 1912 which meant he had a full two decades of experience by the time he came to tackle this melodrama which had already been filmed as a silent by David Wark Griffith. Griffith was able to call on the magic of the Gish sisters in 1921 but Tourneur had to make do with slightly lesser talents. Against this he did have the great Yvette Guilbert who all but steals the movie as the evil La Frochard. Guilbert would make only one more film and fortunately that was also the work of a great artist, in this case Sacha Guitry, so that in retrospect her final two performances formed a fitting end to a fine - albeit brief - film career. Tourneur reveals his mastery time and again switching fluidly from close ups to crowd scenes, now offering a set up reminiscent of German impressionism, now something that might have been painted by Rembrandt. A wonderful time capsule of thirties French Cinema.
2 Reviews
Orphans of the storm talkie
dbdumonteil4 May 2005
That was the story which DW Griffith had already transferred to the screen in the silent era .The great American director transposed Adolphe d'Ennery's tear-jerker,one of the many melodramas which thrived in the French nineteenth century ,during the revolution ,which led the scriptwriters to staggering scenes where Danton himself saved the heroine from the guillotine.
Maurice TOurneur (Jack's father)was more faithful to the original novel.His movie compares favorably to Griffith's ,but Renée Saint-Cyr does not equal Lilian Gish though.The orgy is at least as impressive (and as risqué for the time)as in the silent work.Best performance comes from Yvette GUilbert, the hateful shrew ,La Frochard ,who forces poor blind Louise to beg in the street.Tourneur' s directing and pictures are better than the incredible story which accumulates the coincidences all along Henriette's and Louise's martyrdom:La Frochard rocking her dead son (a giant),Louise teaching André to pray in a church ,and the (female) prisoners leaving for the colonies are scenes which can still grab today's audience ,provided that they love melodramas of course.
Maurice TOurneur (Jack's father)was more faithful to the original novel.His movie compares favorably to Griffith's ,but Renée Saint-Cyr does not equal Lilian Gish though.The orgy is at least as impressive (and as risqué for the time)as in the silent work.Best performance comes from Yvette GUilbert, the hateful shrew ,La Frochard ,who forces poor blind Louise to beg in the street.Tourneur' s directing and pictures are better than the incredible story which accumulates the coincidences all along Henriette's and Louise's martyrdom:La Frochard rocking her dead son (a giant),Louise teaching André to pray in a church ,and the (female) prisoners leaving for the colonies are scenes which can still grab today's audience ,provided that they love melodramas of course.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
