Corso tragique marked a turning point in Albert Capellani’s filmography after directing fables, fairy tales, trick scenes and biblical scenes such as Don Juan, Le Pied de mouton, Cendrillon, Peau d’Âne or Jeanne d’Arc, produced by Pathé from 1906. In 1908, the statutes of the SCAGL (Société cinématographique des auteurs et gens de lettres) were filed and Capellani became the artistic director of the company whose aim was to bring French literary heritage to the screen. He then turned to more dramatic and social films. Corso tragique was shot entirely (except for the last scene) on location in Nice, where Pathé had been filming seasonally since 1905, before creating its own Comica and Nizza brands in the early 1910s. In the summer of 1908, Capellani moved south, leaving the Vincennes studios, first to Nice, and then to Arles where he shot L’Arlésienne, his first production for the SCAGL.
In the style of regional costume films, Corso tragique opens in the port of Nice. An oyster seller, played by Renée Doux – the wife of Ferdinand Zecca – sells shellfish from her stall before going to meet the man who is to become her fiancé. When her hand in marriage is rejected, she complains to her brothers and, as in a vendetta, they avenge her honour during the carnival. Capellani uses the Nice carnival as an opportunity to integrate the event into his fiction film, which thereby becomes a testament of regional culture.

Manon Billaut