Julien Duvivier

Discussion and info on people in film, ranging from directors to actors to cinematographers to writers.
Message
Author
User avatar
NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
Location: Brandywine River

Re: Julien Duvivier

#101 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Fri Oct 10, 2014 4:46 am

For Londoners a continuation of the Simenon in film series with Duvivier's 1933 La Tete d'un Homme with Harry Bauer as Maigret.
Introduced by John Simenon.
If anyone does go to this rare little treat it'd be interesting to know what state any print might be in...if indeed it is a print.
https://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event- ... p?id=16987" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stefan Andersson
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:02 am

Re: Julien Duvivier

#102 Post by Stefan Andersson » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:27 am

Recent tweet from Pathé in France -- restoration of La belle équipe underway, for release in 2016:
https://twitter.com/pathefilms/status/6 ... 5474931712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
Location: Brandywine River

Re: Julien Duvivier

#103 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:56 am

knives wrote:With all of the hubabaloo going on in the '30s thread now would probably be the opportune time to ask what's the deal with the separate cuts of Anna Karenina. All I know is the there is multiple cuts out there and the one on American DVD is the shorter one.
Seeing as the Eclipse set is giving people le feu aux fesses for all things Duviv I thought I'd update re Anna Karenina.
After a few attempts to get the long version I eventually found an EARLIER Studio Canal release Serial no DO 38132 which definitively carries the 134 min version.

Terrific news re Belle Equipe lets hope it's Pathe's belle équipe that handled the resto and not the other monkeys.

User avatar
Quot
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:11 am

Re: Julien Duvivier

#104 Post by Quot » Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:31 am

What's the runtime for Un carnet de bal? And, is La belle équipe going to feature both endings?

User avatar
Ann Harding
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:26 am
Contact:

Re: Julien Duvivier

#105 Post by Ann Harding » Mon Jul 11, 2016 8:33 am

Le Petit roi, one of Duvivier's rarest picture is now out on DVD from René Chateau (R2). (Le Paquebot Tenacity is also available from them).

User avatar
Fred Holywell
Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:45 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#106 Post by Fred Holywell » Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:34 pm

Duvivier's "Marianne, meine Jugendliebe," the German version of his "Marianne de ma jeunesse," is now available on R2 DVD from Pidax Film-Klassiker.

Image
Last edited by Fred Holywell on Sun May 27, 2018 12:35 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
Location: Brandywine River

Re: Julien Duvivier

#107 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Sun Jul 24, 2016 2:48 pm

Ann Harding wrote:Le Petit roi, one of Duvivier's rarest picture is now out on DVD from René Chateau (R2). (Le Paquebot Tenacity is also available from them).
Have you seen this Ann? Some reports would suggest a VHS rip quality.

User avatar
Ann Harding
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:26 am
Contact:

Re: Julien Duvivier

#108 Post by Ann Harding » Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:01 am

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:
Ann Harding wrote:Le Petit roi, one of Duvivier's rarest picture is now out on DVD from René Chateau (R2). (Le Paquebot Tenacity is also available from them).
Have you seen this Ann? Some reports would suggest a VHS rip quality.
The print for LE PETIT ROI is OK. Good contrast and fairly sharp image. PAQUEBOT TENACITY however looks like a dupe, grainy and lacks sharpness.

User avatar
NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
Location: Brandywine River

Re: Julien Duvivier

#109 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Tue Jul 26, 2016 10:44 am

Ann Harding wrote:
NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:
Ann Harding wrote:Le Petit roi, one of Duvivier's rarest picture is now out on DVD from René Chateau (R2). (Le Paquebot Tenacity is also available from them).
Have you seen this Ann? Some reports would suggest a VHS rip quality.
The print for LE PETIT ROI is OK. Good contrast and fairly sharp image. PAQUEBOT TENACITY however looks like a dupe, grainy and lacks sharpness.
Great. Thanks for the info.

User avatar
NABOB OF NOWHERE
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
Location: Brandywine River

Re: Julien Duvivier

#110 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Sat May 12, 2018 8:57 am

The Gaumont Blu-ray issues of Un tel Pere et Fils is not only the long version but has english subs. Similarly L' homme du jour.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#111 Post by Matt » Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:06 pm

I received the new Duvivier silents box set today and immediately sat down to watch Poil de carrote (1925). I don’t like and almost never use this word, but it’s a masterpiece. The restoration looks fantastic, particularly since nitrate prints were used instead of the camera negative (which, amazingly, turned out to be the export negative which used secondary takes or shots from a secondary camera). Duvivier combines a realist narrative with impressionistic visuals to make a three-hanky tearjerker that does not feel manipulative and seems much fresher than a lot of films made in 1925.

The main actor, 12-year-old André Heuzé, gives an exceptionally sympathetic and restrained performance, and the film is packed with impressive visual effects and techniques (superimpositions, trick mirror shots, whip pans) and beautiful location shooting (filmed in the High Alps). I don’t remember much about the 1932 sound version (other than that I found it enjoyable), but this film, for me, is on a level with the best of the mid-20s. I can’t wait to work through the rest of the set; I hope it doesn’t peak with the first film!

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#112 Post by Matt » Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:40 am

Tapping out some thoughts on the next two films in the set before I move on:

Revelation aka The Agony of Jerusalem (L’Agonie de Jérusalem, 1927): A more conventional film than Poil de carotte. Here Duvivier’s exquisite technique serves a religious melodrama with a quite literal come-to-Jesus conversion plot. Sort of equal parts Magnificent Obsession and The Passion of the Christ with a dash of Saboteur thrown in. The exteriors were shot on location in Jerusalem at the insistence of Duvivier, who was disappointed not to have the transporting mystical religious experience he anticipated in visiting the locations of the Passion. His eye for a picturesque backdrop is very sharp, though, and the films is worth watching for the street scenes alone.

The Marriage of Mademoiselle Beulemans (Le mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans, 1927): An adaptation of a popular play that feels like the kind of film Lubitsch might have made at this time if his subject was the mores and manners of the Belgian bourgeoisie instead of the idle rich of the cosmopolitan capitals of Europe. It’s nominally a romantic comedy, I suppose, without much romance or many laughs, and the film is much more interesting when focusing on the preening middle-aged fathers of the betrothed couple. One particular amusing scene involves a pipe-smoking contest at their fraternal lodge (or whatever the Belgian equivalent is), another involves the election of the Honorary President of this club in which the two candidates are the two dads (with key participation by the dad of the third protagonist).

I enjoyed both films, but they don’t approach the greatness of Poil de carotte, which I might even watch again before continuing through the set. All three are miracles of film preservation and restoration, though, and worth the time of any silent film or French film enthusiast.

Also, the short introductions by Serge Bromberg (which, like all “introductions,” are best watched after the film) are thoroughly wonderful. He is so animated and enthusiastic about these films, it’s just pleasurable to watch him talk. I truly wonder what it’s like to work for someone with that much passion for and joy in what they do.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#113 Post by Matt » Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:51 am

Also, the makeup in these two films is oddly distracting, which I’m sure is an unintentional knock-on effect of the films being presented in a state of definition and clarity that was probably unachievable in their own time. The main actors all look like they’re in whiteface—you can see the line around their chin where the makeup stops, and you can plainly see the eyeliner, eye shadow, and lipstick on the men, as if they were still being made up for orthochromatic film stock. It’s a minor issue, of course, but makes these films seem a decade or more older than they are. It makes Poil de carotte feel even more startlingly modern by comparison.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#114 Post by Matt » Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:30 pm

The Maelstrom of Paris (Le Tourbillon de Paris, 1928): We are back in recognizably Duvivier territory with this perfectly structured romantic melodrama. It’s got four things that always make, for me, a better movie: a shopping montage, a choreographed dance, a musical number (yes, in a silent film), and a bravura star turn by a Big Name Actress. Here, that’s Lil Dagover. There are heaps of scheming, torment, angst, triumph over adversity, and True Love here, and the usual Duviver combo of stunning location shooting and dazzling cinematographic technique. Recommended if you like high melodrama about artistic types (a la The Red Shoes and Humoresque).

I’ve got to say, the piano scores by Antonio Coppola in this set have all been exceedingly good. Appropriate to the feel of each scene and not trying to upstage or outpace the action. I will definitely be seeking out more films with his scoring work.

User avatar
Max von Mayerling
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:02 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Re: Julien Duvivier

#115 Post by Max von Mayerling » Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:35 am

Matt, thanks for posting these. This set was on my radar, but now I definitely need to check this out.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Julien Duvivier

#116 Post by Matt » Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:59 am

Thank you for reading!

The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower (Le Mystère de la tour Eiffel, 1928): Tonight’s selection is a comic adventure film that makes you wonder what something like North by Northwest might be like if it starred a nebbishy but likeable Everyman actor like, I dunno, John Qualen instead of Cary Grant. This was meant to be a satire of fantastical crime serials common in the silent era in both America and France, but it’s hard to satirize something that’s already fully aware of its own inherent silliness, so much of what takes place here is exactly what would happen in, say, Judex or Fantômas, sight gags included. What makes it (a gentle, affectionate) satire is casting the comedic actor Tramel as the central hero (a Hitchcockian “wrong man” who is unaware that he’s actually the *right* man who is being duped into life-threatening danger by a scheming lookalike he worked with in a carnival act). He (or rather the character) is paunchy, balding, slovenly, and broke, and wears a distinctive brush-style mustache.

It has all the delights and some of the drags of any thriller-style serial, and the finale, which involves cops chasing an international cabal of criminals around the Eiffel Tower and all the way up into the heights of the rigging, is actually thrilling and nerve-wracking. (One of the film historian-critics who provides comments on each film insists that the Tower was recreated on a set against a matte painting—and it probably was for some shots featuring the lead actors—but there are many, many shots that clearly show men clambering on the beams, high above visibly moving traffic, with no obvious means of support or safety gear. Terrifying.)

It’s a highly amusing film, a little too long at more than two hours, but what serial doesn’t go on too long?

The score here is a little odd, but fun. There’s some Theremin or musical saw or something quivery like that, and some scenes have no music but have simulated background noise like a car motor, bird song, or ambient noise. It’s overall very effective, though, and, as I said, fun.

Each film in this set has been very different from the others, and yet they all have a recognizable stylistic signature (and a few actors who begin to reappear in very different roles). I’m greatly looking forward to the remaining 4 films of the set, especially since I already know what lies ahead of them in the 1930s.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#117 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:32 am

You had me at North by Northwest

User avatar
Ann Harding
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:26 am
Contact:

Re: Julien Duvivier

#118 Post by Ann Harding » Wed Dec 22, 2021 5:30 am

Matt wrote:
Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:59 am
The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower (Le Mystère de la tour Eiffel, 1928): Tonight’s selection is a comic adventure film that makes you wonder what something like North by Northwest might be like if it starred a nebbishy but likeable Everyman actor like, I dunno, John Qualen instead of Cary Grant. This was meant to be a satire of fantastical crime serials common in the silent era in both America and France, but it’s hard to satirize something that’s already fully aware of its own inherent silliness, so much of what takes place here is exactly what would happen in, say, Judex or Fantômas, sight gags included. What makes it (a gentle, affectionate) satire is casting the comedic actor Tramel as the central hero (a Hitchcockian “wrong man” who is unaware that he’s actually the *right* man who is being duped into life-threatening danger by a scheming lookalike he worked with in a carnival act). He (or rather the character) is paunchy, balding, slovenly, and broke, and wears a distinctive brush-style mustache.
Actually Le Mystère de la Tour Eiffel plagiarizes another Feuillade serial, Barrabas (1920). Alas, the Duvivier is a pale boring copy of the original. Unfortunately it's quite difficult to see Barrabas. And - like you - I found Tramel a dead bore.

User avatar
jegharfangetmigenmyg
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:52 am

Re: Julien Duvivier

#119 Post by jegharfangetmigenmyg » Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:40 am

Thank you for your mini reviews, Matt! I'm still waiting for my Duvivier set to arrive. It sounds like you have yet to watch the film which this screenshot comes from? I thought it was very interesting, because of course it looks a lot like the hall of mirrors scene from Lady from Shanghai, and Welles was said to be a fan of Duvivier's. But I guess the cutting is what makes the Welles scene so great, not just the mise en scene. I'm curious to hear how Duvivier's film compares.

User avatar
Ann Harding
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:26 am
Contact:

Re: Julien Duvivier

#120 Post by Ann Harding » Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:03 am

That's Lil Dagover in Le Tourbillon de Paris.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#121 Post by Matt » Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:28 pm

Yes, that's from the very end of the great shopping montage. They are standing in front of one of those full-view triple mirrors found in clothing stores. It's just one shot, but it is remarkable.
Ann Harding wrote:Actually Le Mystère de la Tour Eiffel plagiarizes another Feuillade serial, Barrabas (1920). Alas, the Duvivier is a pale boring copy of the original.
Thank you! I had expected it would be one that I have not seen.

By way of comparison, I was also going to say something like "This film is like what In Like Flint or the Matt Helm movies are to James Bond films—something of a satire that too closely mimics the original because it would be incomprehensible to do otherwise," but that's not quite a fully formed analogy, and I'm not enough of an aficionado of those kinds of movies to prove it.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Julien Duvivier

#122 Post by Matt » Thu Dec 23, 2021 5:12 pm

The Divine Voyage (La Divine Croisière, 1928): This film has everything you’d want in an entertainment: a seaside village, hunky sailors on a dangerous sea voyage, mutiny, a shipwreck, a black-hearted rich man and his golden-hearted daughter, a portly priest who takes in orphans, a vengeful mob storming an elegant dinner party and setting fire to the drapes, art restoration, a divine vision, a hopeless rescue mission, a cheeky stowaway, more arson, quicksand, a comeuppance, a tearful reunion, and a third act Change of Heart.

Long considered a lost film, this is yet another miracle of film restoration with a lovely ensemble score by Antonio Coppola. One could get spoiled by these riches.

User avatar
criterionsnob
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:23 am
Location: Canada

Re: Julien Duvivier

#123 Post by criterionsnob » Thu Dec 23, 2021 5:30 pm

You had me at hunky sailors. I’ll be picking this set up over the holidays. Thanks Matt for your enthusiastic reviews.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Julien Duvivier

#124 Post by Matt » Thu Dec 23, 2021 11:50 pm

The Miraculous Life of Teresa of Lisieux (La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin, 1929): The problem with making a film about the life of a saint lies in making them believably human while maintaining their inspirational saintliness. Duvivier does his best here, but what can you really say about a girl whose only ambition is to become a nun and then, having done so, only wishes to suffer and die (which she takes an extremely long time in achieving, I must add). The performances by the leads playing Thérèse and her father are exceptional and well-directed, but within the limited range of pious but sad to pious but glad. The whole first hour is basically Thérèse as a young girl begging everyone from her parish priest to the Pope to let her become a Carmelite nun like two of her older sisters, but they all tell her she’s too young. Then she just enters the convent when she’s finally old enough. But suddenly, as she is taking her vows, holy shit this guy shows up:

Image

and the movie becomes The Last Temptation of Thérèse! Things are absolutely WILD for a few minutes (some truly inspired filmmaking here), then the film settles back into its overly reverent groove, Thérèse plays the last act of Camille, then we see her in Heaven raining rose petals down on the earth.

I can see why this film was made and why it might have been important. Thérèse was canonized in 1925, just four years before the film, so there’s a strong element of Local Girl Makes Good pride in her story, and she was a hugely popular figure at the time and since. It does a good job of portraying the devotion and sacrifice necessary to become and to be a nun, even if those things don’t necessarily make for gripping cinema. It’s touching to see her father grieve when he loses her to the convent and again just a handful of years later when he beholds her lifeless body.

This is probably my least favorite and the most sedate and restrained of the films so far, but there is still much to admire in it.

User avatar
Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: Julien Duvivier

#125 Post by Finch » Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:01 am

Thank you for those rundowns, Matt. Between this set and their Argentinian noirs, Flicker Alley have really excelled themselves this year.

Post Reply