Film Review
One of Maurice Tourneur's earliest films,
Figures de cire is a minor but unsettling
work which tangentially prefigures his later, and probably best known,
film,
La Main du diable (1943).
The most memorable sequence from that later film shows an enlarged shadow
of a hand projected onto the back of the set, and
Figures de cire uses shadow play
just as effectively to convey a sense of unremitting terror in the mind
of the character who sees it.
Tourneur's use of shadows to suggest menace and exteriorise the fears of the
protagonist pre-dates the German expressionistic filmmakers by a decade,
(F.W. Murnau directed
Nosferatu,
famous for its shadow of a vampire, in 1922).
His later films - including
Au nom de la loi (1932) and
Justin de Marseille (1935).-
have a stark visual style which relies on shadows to create an oppresive mood
that is recognisably an early form of the film noir aesthetic.
The moody lighting brings a nightmarish quality to the sequences set in the waxworks museum
- it's no wonder that the same creepy setting would be re-used
in later horror films, including Michael Curtiz's
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
and André de Toth's
House of Wax (1953).
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Maurice Tourneur film:
La Bergère d'Ivry (1913)
Film Synopsis
At a party one evening, Pierre and his friend Jacques get into a heated
discussion about the nature of fear. Rashly, Pierre accepts a bet
from his friend that he can spend an entire night in any place, and he
is undaunted when Jacques chooses a waxworks museum. In a
deserted gallery populated by immobile, sinister wax figures, the night
passes slowly for Pierre, and he begins to feel afraid. Then he
sees a shadow of a man coming towards him. Pierre attacks the
ghostly vision with a dagger, not realising that it is Jacques, who has
slipped into the museum to frighten him.. The next morning,
Pierre has lost his mind, and the museum has gained another motionless
body...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.