Molière

This was a major production for Gaumont -- 20 minutes at the currently accepted speed of the surviving print. However, Abel Gance, who had only been in the movie business for a year, was an ambitious revolutionary, intent on making film its own art form. He would do so over the next couple of decade, pushing the technical limits for special effects.... and then, over the following thirty years, come to be seen as an old stick-in-the-mud, someone for the New Wave of French Cinema to mock.... because they wanted to make their own movies, and he stood in their way.

Gance was too new to be let direct his own work at this stage -- he would not direct his first short until 1911 -- so the job was handed over to two of Gaumont's older hands (Perret and Feuillade) and Gance was given the minor but key role of Moliere as a youngster, just as he would cast himself as Saint-Just in NAPOLEON. I like to imagine he stayed around the production, arguing with the directors, or just thinking of how the movie should be shot. These old men with their outdated ideas! They should make way for younger men with better ones! Just as the writers in LES CAHIERS CINEMA wrote about him almost half a century later.

Due to a quirk of fate, many silent directors who during their careers gained wide recognition and fame by the commoner masses and the emerging film critics, were forgotten with the passage of time until one day, thanks to another quirk of fate, their valuable work resurfaced from oblivion thanks the outreach efforts made by different public or private institutions. This is the case with the prolific and great Herr Léonce Perret whose work was recently released by "KINO International" an Amerikan distribution company.

Herr Léonce Perret's films are absolutely remarkable for their film narrative and use of new and inventive techniques. His films covered almost every film genre and were admired on both sides of the Atlantic (he worked for the "Gaumont" company in Europe and for "Pathé" in Hollywood).

"Molière" (1909) is one of his most solid early films; the script was written by a young Herr Abel Gance ( it must be said that Herr Perret collaborated too during his French days with another frenchified film genius, Herr Louis Feuillade ) who also participated in the film as the young Molière . The life of the great French playwright and actor is depicted in an abridged way. Obviously this is a very important subject for this German count because aristocrats don't want to waste their leisure time with trifles like reading books, so abridged dossiers about this genius of the arts or that one are helpful so that, in one of his decadent soirées, this Herr Graf can boast and show off his refined culture and artistic knowledge acquired thanks to these early versions of "Reader's Digest"… "Molière" use of outdoor scenery is very notable for the time and distinctive of Herr Perret's work and helps to give his films a certain rhythm that makes them stand out. His use of costumes is also important.

"Molière" is a good start for any silent film fan who wants to discover the great and pioneer work of Herr Léonce Perret, And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must be treated for misanthropy and avarice by a bourgeois gentleman.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com