Cyrano de Bergerac

It really is remarkable what a difference sound makes to a film made during the silent era. This 2-minute film, made at a time when most filmmakers were content to shoot footage of postmen posting letters and people walking across bridges, shows a scene from the play Cyrano de Bergerac. Benoit Constantin Coquelin reprises his stage role as the wily Bergerac, taunting his foe, debating then explaining how he is going to defeat him in the duel in which they are partaking. Coquelin is very good, and gives a natural performance that would be beyond actors nearly thirty years later when sound films were first introduced. The film is also partly hand-coloured, which also adds to the enjoyment.

This film was included in the three DVD set "Saved From the Flames"--a collection of mostly ephemeral movies that have managed to avoid turning to powder, catching fire or melting--something that usually happened with the nitrate film stock used up through the 1950s.

Of all the very early films in this set, "Cyrano de Bergerac" is the most amazing to watch. That's because it consists of what seems impossible for the era--a color AND sound film! Despite popular belief that the first sound film was "The Jazz Singer", there were many earlier experiments using sound and moving pictures. However, like "Cyrano", the used a separate recording which created LOTS of problems. The most serious was actually synchronizing the sound and movement. The second was that the recording tended to wear out after just a few viewings. However, "Cyrano" was even more difficult, as it did not use a record but wax cylinders (records were not invented yet) and were even more prone to breaking. As for the color, well, it's not color like we know of it today. Instead, factories filled with women hand painted portions of each and every cel--sometimes a thousand or more! And, this needed to be done for each print! Sometimes the result was blotchy and gross and sometime, with "Cyrano", it looks marvelous. Frankly, this is the most technically amazing film I have seen of the era--and just goes to show you what a lot of ingenuity and skill could produce using relatively primitive technology. A must-see for historians and film buffs.

This rediscovered early color (hand-tinted) and sound (on disc) film from 1900 was put on the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection. It depicts the duel between the title character and his rival with the actor who originated him in the play, Coquelin Aine, speaking in his native French language. Fascinating to watch though more interesting to see as historical than entertaining. Still, worth a look. P.S. This was followed by another early sound-on-disc musical short with singer M. Note singing "La Marseillaise" which, if you've seen Casablanca, you'd recognize as the French national anthem. That one was pretty entertaining.