1911-1920

François Massarelli (google translate) wrote:
Philippe Guérande (Edouard Mathé), reporter for the “Mondial”, fights a merciless fight against the band of criminals Les Vampires. He is helped in this by his friend Oscar-Cloud Mazamette (Marcel Levesque), a former member of the gang whom he persuaded to follow the right path and who is very devoted to him. He spares no effort to counter the actions of the Great Vampire, the leader of the gang (Jean Aymé), Irma Vep (Musidora), the muse of criminals, or even Satanas (Louis Leubas), a dangerous manipulator of explosives, and Vénénos (Frédérick Moriss), the “master of poisons”…Read More »

A love-triangle in a Dutch fishing village results in the Pietr (wealthy) stranding the Dirk (poor) at sea. The latter ends up in foreign lands with his little pooch. Drama ensues. Lots of lovely outdoor/at sea shots in this one!Read More »

Inspector Juve is tasked to investigate and capture an infamous criminal Fantomas.Read More »

Quote:
In 1919, before Ernst Lubitsch was known for his famous “touch,” the master director made something like nine films–a perfect opportunity for an artist to really practice his craft. Even he had to start somewhere.

Madame du Barry was retitled Passion to avoid the anti-German sentiment after World War I. Even though it was a French title and a French story, in Europe the movie was connected to the German director Ernst Lubitsch. Lubitsch’s name appeared nowhere in the American posters or movie titles so the movie wouldn’t bomb in America.Read More »

IMDB wrote:
Le Gendarme est sans Culotte (or, “The Policeman is Without Trousers”) concerns a dim-witted cop named Foezel, who is played by Marcel Lévesque, best remembered as Mazamette in the great crime serial Les Vampires. Lévesque, whose comic relief character practically stole the show in that series, also starred in his own short comedies. To my way of thinking he suggests a Gallic version of Jimmy Finlayson, Laurel & Hardy’s familiar nemesis, not only in appearance but in his vigorous, over the top performance style. […]Read More »

Ilse/Elza (Alice Hechy) is into a local painter but her father wants her to marry Count van Trutwitz or some American.
Two of her friends pretend to be these would-be suitors with intentionally disastrous consequences.Read More »

Two brothers compete for the love of a woman while the impending war threatens to separate them from both sides of the border. Based on the novel “La Débâcle” by Émile Zola.Read More »

Reared by a childless ape, the orphaned heir of the Greystokes becomes one of the apes. Then Dr. Porter organizes a rescue expedition, and his beautiful daughter Jane catches his attention. Has Tarzan of the Apes found the perfect mate?Read More »

Quote:
A poor painter, never artistically recognized, meets on the riverside a wealthy young lady. They are both attracted to each other and she invites him to come over to her castle. There they begin an illegal affair (the woman is married to an old grand duke who is absent at that moment). Even when she warns him that their love will be as a big fire, that will be extinguished too quickly, the painter, blinded by passion, accepts. He paints a daring and somewhat manneristic portrait of the woman and sends it to town. At the moment when they read in the newspaper that due to the portrait the painter is finally recognized and praised, the duchess receives a message her husband is returning. Secretly she puts a sleeping powder in the painter’s wine. When he awakes, she is gone and has left him only the money for the painting, that she clearly has bought. Desperately he leaves the castle and wanders around, in search for his beloved. But when he finally encounters her, in company of her husband, she pretends not to know him.Read More »