L’Assassinat du duc de Guise is a French period drama film first released in 1908, directed by André Calmettes and Charles Le Bargy.  The film stars Charles Le Bargy, Albert Lambert, Gabrielle Robinne and Berthe Bovy.  It has also been released under the title: The Assassination of the Duke de Guise.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


An episode in the de Guise family struggle to seize power in 1563.  Henri I of Lorraine, the Duc de Guise, rival to King Henri III of Navarre, is stabbed to death by the king’s bodyguards in the Château de Blois, to the distress of his mistress, the Marquise of Noirmoutiers...

L’Assassinat du duc de Guise is a film of immense historic importance.  One of the first films to use the narrative form, it proved to be an immense international success for its production company, Film d’Art, and, by dint of its popularity, helped to propel cinema from its early pioneering endeavours into a respectable and commercially viable industry.

The film was based on a stage play and is perhaps the earliest period drama (at least of the kind we would recognise as such today).  It is certainly one of the earliest films to show character development and have an intellectually satisfying plot.

The film’s success was at least in part attributable to the quality of the script (written by the academic Henri Lavedan) and the acting.  Unusually for its time, the film employed professional actors, including Charles Le Bargy and Gabrielle Robinne of the prestigious Comédie française.  The photography and set design are also impressive for the period, as is the music by Camille Saint-Saëns, which was written especially for the film (reputedly the first narrative film in history to have this honour).

© James Travers 2002

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