Film Review
Jacques Feyder's reputation as one of France's leading filmmakers was
established early in the 1920s with such films as this masterful adaptation
of a short novel by Anatole France, first published in 1901.
In contrast to his 1921 adventure epic
L'Atlantide,
Crainquebille
is a comparatively modest piece combining social drama and satire, but one that is
extraordinarily direct and engaging.
The film's subject matter fits perfectly with Feyder's naturalistic style
of filmmaking, which exposes the director's humane sympathies for
the less privileged members of society. With a skill
that becomes increasingly evident in his subsequent films, Feyder succeeds in drawing
as much genuine poignancy as he can from the story without ever crossing the line into mawkish
sentimentality. See how masterfully he manages to employ comedy to offset
the tragic elements of his drama, something which adds great depth to his characters and
a very human dimension to their plight.
Whilst it is predominantly a realist drama.
Crainquebille
does offer as few memorable stylistic flourishes which show that Feyder was not averse
to experimentation. These include
a demonic nightmare version of the trial scene, which appears to have been lifted from
an early German expressionist film. There are also shades
of Chaplin, not just in the character of Crainquebille himself (a lovable outsider who
appears to be constantly at odds with the world he lives in), but most evidently in the
film's rather touching final sequences. (The angelic child
actor Jean Forest would feature in Feyder's subsequent films,
Visages d'enfants and
Gribiche.)
The film's cinematographer Léonce-Henri Burel would have
a long and distinguished career, winning praise for his work
on Abel Gance's
Napoléon (1927) and Robert
Bresson's
Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1956).
Whilst the film may not have received
the recognition it deserved when it was first released,
Crainquebille
has recently come to be regarded as one of Feyder's most important works
and a fine example of French silent cinema.
Anatole France's novella was subsequently adapted in 1933 by Jacques de Baroncelli,
and then in 1954 by Ralph Habib.
© James Travers 2006
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Next Jacques Feyder film:
Visages d'enfants (1925)
Film Synopsis
For over forty years, a modest street peddler, Crainquebille, has sold vegetables from
his cart in the environs of the Halles market in Paris. One
day, whilst waiting for a customer to give him his change, he is accosted by a policeman
who insists that he moves on.
When he protests, Crainquebille
is arrested, supposedly for swearing at the policeman. After
a farcical trial, the old man is sent to prison, where he enjoys the benefits of free
shelter, free food, and even free healthcare. But when he
leaves prison, Crainquebille's fortunes take a turn for the worse.
All of his erstwhile customers shun him, and, with no income, he drowns his sorrows
in drink. Reduced to a loathsome tramp, the sad old man is
about to end his life when a young street urchin takes him by the hand and persuades him
to make a fresh start.
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.