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Best French Films of the
1920s
Marcel L'Herbier (1921) |
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Henri Diamant-Berger (1921) |
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With an uncanny flair for technical innovation and artistic genius, Marcel L’Herbier
transforms a conventional melodrama into an enthralling dream-like fantasy,
filled with emotional turmoil.
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Diamant-Berger’s epic 1921 production of Les Trois mousquetaires
is both an exquisite example of silent cinema and a compelling historical
adventure drama.
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Jacques Feyder (1922) |
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Abel Gance (1923) |
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This poignant comedy-drama featuring a Chaplinesque street pedler is one
of Jacques Feyder's early achievements, a film of great charm and humanity.
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This epic romantic drama is sustained by Abel Gance's imaginative
cinematic technique and an extraordinary performance from Severin-Mars.
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Jean Renoir (1924) |
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René Clair (1924) |
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Jean Renoir’s first full length film is an improbable yet irresistible
melange of melodrama, farce and surrealism. A fore-runner of poetic realism,
it is both poignant and inspired.
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The Eiffel Tower is the main star of this early science-fiction fantasy set
in Paris of the 1920s, an enchanting, very funny film from René Clair.
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René Clair (1924) |
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Abel
Gance (1925) |
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Commissioned
to fill the interval in a ballet, with music by Erik Satie, Entr'acte
is a bizarre work of Dada surrealism which established the reputation for
René Clair, one of France's greatest directors.
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One
of the landmark films of the Twentieth Century, Abel Gance’s six-hour long
epic pushed film-making technology to its limit to create one of the most
visually stunning and remarkable films in history.
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Jacques Feyder (1925) |
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Jacques Feyder (1926) |
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With is dazzling sense of realism and truth, this poignant drama
about a boy coming to terms with the death of his mother is
Jacques Feyder's greatest silent film.
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Using a neo-realist approach, Jacques Feyder brings both humanity and a
great sense of scale to this ambitious adaptation of Prosper Mérimée's famous novel.
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Jean Renoir (1926) |
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Raymond Bernard (1927) |
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A poignant and ambitious adaptation of Emile Zola's novel about
a woman's desperate attempt to escape from poverty, with
Faustian overtones.
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This historical epic rivals Abel Gance's "Napoleon" in its
breathtaking scale and innovative cinematographic approach.
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René
Clair (1927) |
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Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928) |
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René
Clair skilful transposition of Labiche’s play from the 1850s to the 1890s
makes for one of the finest comic farces of the silent era.
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The
definitive screen adaptation of the Joan of Arc story offers a unique and
utterly compelling cinematic experience, drawing the spectator into the
heroine's torment and suffering with a rare emotional intensity.
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Jean Epstein (1928) |
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Luis Buñuel and Salvador
Dalí (1929) |
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Edgar
Allen Poe’s famous ghost story is brought to life in this haunting surreal
horror film, the crowning glory of Jean Epstein's film-making career, a
true cinematographic achievement.
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A
perplexing melange of seemingly unrelated surreal images, this is a captivating
work which defies any attempt at rational explanation. Still, it
is widely regarded as both a unique work of art and a cinematic masterpiece.
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Marcel L'Herbier (1929) |
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Henri Fescourt (1929) |
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Framed by lavish art deco sets, Marcel L'Herbier's monumental adaptation of Emile
Zola's novel provides cinema's most powerful condemnation of the world
of high finance.
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This truly epic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel is
a compelling portrait of a man bent on revenge, a work
of breathtaking ambition realised with consummate skill and humanity.
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Buy DVDs of 1920s French films...
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