Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (1925)
Directed by René Clair

Film Review

Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge was the first feature-length film that René Clair directed and, whilst it is hardly a classic, it shows something of the imaginative flair and uninhibited sense of fun of the two noteworthy shorts he made prior to this - Entr'acte (1924) and Paris qui dort (1925).  A somewhat messy mix of melodrama and fantasy (which draws on such influences as Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Dr Jeyll and Mr Hyde), this early Clair offering has precious little of the sophistication of his subsequent great films but it rewards with its scattergun humour and careless eccentricity.

Georges Méliès was presumably a strong influence on Clair for this film and the other zany flights of fancy he went on around this time, including his next fantasy fest, Le Voyage imaginaire (1926).  Superimposition and other camera trickery are employed with gay abandon when the film's protagonist, a respectable businessman turned mischievous sprite (Georges Vaultier) goes on a humour spree around Paris, leaving a trail of laugh-out-loud visual gags in his wake.  Clair is clearly far more interested in the special effects and their comic potential than the story - the plot is a fairly mundane melodrama that goes a bit bananas around the mid-point, and the characters are all pretty well stock archetypes played with no real enthusiasm by actors who seem to be unaware this is a comedy.

Only an exhaustingly energetic Albert Préjean seems to be enjoying himself - with his penchant for climbing up walls, jumping from great heights and scrapping with any lowlife that comes his way he could easily be mistaken for Spider Man.  At the time, Préjean was a virtual unknown, soon to become a big star after appearing in Clair's subsequent Sous les toits de Paris (1930).  Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge's biggest name was its lead actress Sandra Milovanoff, made famous by her leading roles in Louis Feuillade's L'Orpheline (1921) and Parisette (1921).  The other notable cast member is the character actor Maurice Schutz - remembered for his appearances in such films as Jean Epstein's Mauprat (1926), Carl Dreyer's Vampyr (1932) and Jacques Becker's Goupi main rouges (1943).

In Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge, René Clair shows himself to be more a wildly enthusiastic than seriously competent filmmaker, apparently more interested in making a film for his own amusement than a cinemagoing public.  The lively sequence in the Moulin-Rouge is one of the most self-indulgent in his entire oeuvre but it captures the decadence and joie-de-vivre of the era brilliantly.  With experience gained in more conventional genres, Clair would make some more successful excursions into the fantasy genre in later years - The Ghost Goes West (1935), I Married a Witch (1942) and La Beauté du diable (1950).

Film Synopsis

Julien Boissel, a prominent Parisian businessman, is madly in love with Yvonne, the daughter of a former minister of state, Victor Vincent.  Unfortunately, Yvonne has another suitor, in the form of Monsieur Gauthier, the editor of one of the city's most widely read and disreputable newspapers.   Gauthier claims to have in his possession documents that will bring scandal to the Vincents and threatens to publish these if Yvonne does not consent to be his wife.  Victor advises his daughter not to see Julien again until his differences with Gauthier have been resolved.  Feeling bereft, Julien accepts an invitation from his cousin Jacqueline to spend an evening with her at the Moulin-Rouge.  Here, clearly uninterested by the distractions on offer, he is closely observed by Dr Robini, an eminent brain specialist.  Robini is convinced he has discovered a way to draw the spirit out of the body of a human being and return it, without any harm to the subject.  He believes that Julien might be an ideal guinea pig for his experiments...  Over the ensuing weeks, strange phenomenon take place over Paris, with inanimate objects seemingly moving of their own accord.  Julien is too fond of his newfound freedom as a disembodied spirit to return to his body, and so, when his lifeless body is discovered, Dr Robini is arrested for his murder.  On hearing of Gauthier's plan to force the Yvonne to marry him, Julien raids the editor's offices and steals the incriminating papers.  Realising how much Yvonne truly loves him, he decides he would like to be reunited with his body, but without Robini's help this cannot happen!  Disgraced by the murder charge, the doctor refuses to help Julien.  Knowing that his body is about to be subjected to a post mortem at any moment, Julien must resort to desperate measures to win Robini around and prevent his beloved Yvonne from being forced into matrimony with a scoundrel...