Visages d'enfants (1925)

Post Reply
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Visages d'enfants (1925)

Post by moira finnie »

Visages d'enfants aka Faces of Children (1925) directed by Jacques Feyder is scheduled for early Monday Morning January 9th @ 12:30 AM (ET) on TCM. The viewer comments and article about the film found here makes this movie quite intriguing. My past enjoyment of Feyder films such as Carnival in Flanders (1935) makes me want to see this drama too. Below is a snippet of the movie, which appears to have tinted sequences. This movie is also available on DVD.

[youtube][/youtube]

Has anyone an opinion on this film that they would like to share?
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
User avatar
Ann Harding
Posts: 1246
Joined: January 11th, 2008, 11:03 am
Location: Paris
Contact:

Re: Visages d'enfants (1925)

Post by Ann Harding »

Visages d'enfants is quite simply of masterpiece. Jacques Feyder, Belgian born, made a series of great pictures during the silent era, as well as talkies. He started as an actor. He got later employed in Gaumont and directed shorts. In 1921, he managed to finance his first feature-length picture: L'Atlantide. The film was entirely shot in the Sahara desert, in gruelling conditions. It was followed by Crainquebille (1922) a delightful story shot at the heart of the Paris food market (Les Halles) where he used for the first time little Jean Forest. Then, the boy got the lead in Visages d'enfants. The film was shot in the Swiss Alps and decribed the torments of a young boy who has just lost his mother. Feyder shows a great understanding of his young characters coupled with an undeniable visual mastery. Forest played the lead again in Gribiche (1926) which I wrote about on SSO here. Feyder's last silent French film before leaving for Hollywood was Les Nouveaux Messieurs, a great comedy about a young dancer who is the mistress of a politician. Jacques Feyder deserves better recognition than what he is getting nowadays in France. His filmography is rather small, but each film was meticulously written, produced and acted. I have yet to see a bad Feyder...and I have nearly seen all his extant films. Fortunately, the French Cinémathèque will show a retrospective of his work next spring/summer. I hope to be able to see some of his rarest work such as the German version of La Kermesse Héroïque called Die Klugen Frauen (the clever women) and also the German version of Les Gens du voyage (a circus picture with Françoise Rosay in the lead). Both versions have Rosay in the lead (she spoke German). There is also the super-rare, Si l'empereur savait ça, the French version of the infamous His Glorious Night which is supposed to be a very funny comedy with Rosay in the lead again.
User avatar
moira finnie
Administrator
Posts: 8024
Joined: April 9th, 2007, 6:34 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Re: Visages d'enfants (1925)

Post by moira finnie »

Thanks, Christine!

As soon as I have time to view the recording of this film, I'll let you know my impressions.
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

The Skeins
TCM Movie Morlocks
User avatar
charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Re: Visages d'enfants (1925)

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I loved it too, I hope it is the fully restored version, it is a beautiful film.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Post Reply