Or how to transform a period piece into an adventure film, with some macroscopic infidelities to Stendhal’s original. In fact this “secret courier” (the original German title) ends in the tumultuous revolutionary days in July 1830, while the novel – which was written in the early months of the same year – never alludes to it – and the reason is obvious. In the film Madame de Rènal (Lil Dagover) is portrayed as a woman blinded by her explicit sexual desire for Julien Sorel (Ivan Mosjoukine, much too old for the role), to the point of losing any moral conscience (the two sons whom Julien Sorel tutors have rather opportunely disappeared from the screenplay). Using this material for a spectacular film which brings together two great international stars of the 20s, Righelli creates the best that the German cinematographic industry – at that time omnipotent – can offer: dark and oppressive scenography for Monsieur and Madame Rènal’s home and Julien Sorel’s prison cell, Friedrich Weinmann’s extremely elaborate lighting, exceptional scenes such as the dance at the hotel de La Mole and Madame de Rènal’s assassination, rhythms and superimpositions borrowed from the forefront of cinematography. Like many other productions from 1928-1929, Righelli’s Rouge et Noir brings together the formal research of the ten years preceding it. While the epitome of the hybrid film genre, Rouge et Noir does deserve careful consideration.

Christophe Gauthier, curatore della Cinémathèque de Toulouse.