LA FEMME DU LUTTEUR
Scen.: André Heuzé. Prod.: Pathé (No. 1550). 35mm. L.: 150 m. D.: 8’ a 16 f/s. Bn.
Film Notes
Two recently-found and restored scènes dramatiques of 1906, both from the Fonds Morieux, the extensive stock of a travelling cinematograph show which came to light in 2006. Both, appropriately, are set in the milieu of a travelling show. In Mortelle Idylle a young woman is drawn to the stage and abandons her fiancé to join the “Modern Opera” travelling theatre. In La Femme du lutteur a rich woman takes an interest in the muscular wrestler from the “International Arena”, which drives the latter’s wife to homicidal jealousy. In both films Capellani achieves an unbroken dramatic thrust thanks to the continuous linking of shots and locations, and strengthens the atmospheric exterior shots by subtle photographic effects such as reflections and leafy shadows.