L'Atlantide (1921 film)
Encyclopedia
L'Atlantide is a 1921 French-Belgian silent film directed by Jacques Feyder
, and the first of several adaptations of the best-selling novel L'Atlantide by Pierre Benoit
.
), become lost in the Sahara desert and discover the legendary kingdom of Atlantis, ruled by its ageless queen Antinéa (Stacia Napierkowska
). They become the latest in a line of captives whom she has taken as lovers, and who are killed and embalmed in gold after she has tired of them. Morhange however, already grieving for a lost love and planning to take holy orders, is indifferent to Antinéa's advances and rejects her. Angered and humiliated, she exploits the jealousy of his friend Saint-Avit and incites him to kill Morhange. Appalled by what he has done, Saint-Avit is helped to escape by Antinéa's secretary Tanit-Zerga (Marie-Louise Iribe), and after nearly dying in the desert from thirst and exhaustion, he is found by a patrol of soldiers. Saint-Avit returns to Paris and tries to resume his life, but he is unable to forget Antinéa. Three years later he returns to the desert and sets out to find her kingdom again, accompanied by another officer to whom he has told his story.
Much of the narrative is contained within a long flashback as Saint-Avit recounts his first visit to Antinéa; other shorter flashbacks are used within this framework, creating a fairly complex narrative structure.
and then Djidjelli on the coast, for 8 months of filming. Even the interiors were filmed in an improvised studio in a tent outside Algiers, with sets by the painter Manuel Orazi
.
Feyder initially borrowed production money from his cousin who was a director of Banque Thalmann. By the time of the film's release in October 1921, the costs had escalated to an unprecedented figure of nearly 2 million francs, and its financial backers rapidly sold their rights to the distributor Louis Aubert
. The film soon became a huge success however and earned a great deal of money for Aubert; it ran at a Paris cinema for over one year and was widely sold abroad. Aubert re-released the film in 1928 and it had a renewed success.
A DVD version of the film was released in 2004, based on a restored copy at the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. This reveals the very high quality of the film's photography, and it includes a detailed scheme of colour tinting throughout the print. Its running time is about 30 minutes shorter than the reported length of the original. It has a new musical soundtrack by Eric Le Guen.
was not wholly sarcastic: "There is one great actor in this film, that is the sand".
L'Atlantide was one of the earliest feature films to depict the French colonial presence in North Africa, and led the way for a series of other films made during the 1920s which emphasised the romantic and exotic aspects of the colonial experience; la|ter examples in this colonial tradition included Le Bled (1929), Le Grand Jeu
(1934), and La Bandera
(1935).
Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor, screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France, but also in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s, and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema...
, and the first of several adaptations of the best-selling novel L'Atlantide by Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit may refer to:*Pierre Benoit , novelist and member of the Académie française*Pierre Basile Benoit , former member of the Canadian House of Commons...
.
Plot
In 1911, two French officers, Capitaine Morhange (Jean Angelo) and Lieutenant Saint-Avit (Georges MelchiorGeorges Melchior
Georges Melchior was a French actor of the silent era. He appeared in 67 films between 1911 and 1937.-Selected filmography:* Fantômas * L'Atlantide...
), become lost in the Sahara desert and discover the legendary kingdom of Atlantis, ruled by its ageless queen Antinéa (Stacia Napierkowska
Stacia Napierkowska
Stacia Napierkowska was a French actress and dancer, who worked during the silent film era. She appeared in 86 films between 1908 and 1926.-Biography:...
). They become the latest in a line of captives whom she has taken as lovers, and who are killed and embalmed in gold after she has tired of them. Morhange however, already grieving for a lost love and planning to take holy orders, is indifferent to Antinéa's advances and rejects her. Angered and humiliated, she exploits the jealousy of his friend Saint-Avit and incites him to kill Morhange. Appalled by what he has done, Saint-Avit is helped to escape by Antinéa's secretary Tanit-Zerga (Marie-Louise Iribe), and after nearly dying in the desert from thirst and exhaustion, he is found by a patrol of soldiers. Saint-Avit returns to Paris and tries to resume his life, but he is unable to forget Antinéa. Three years later he returns to the desert and sets out to find her kingdom again, accompanied by another officer to whom he has told his story.
Much of the narrative is contained within a long flashback as Saint-Avit recounts his first visit to Antinéa; other shorter flashbacks are used within this framework, creating a fairly complex narrative structure.
Cast
- Jean Angelo as Capt. Morhange
- Stacia NapierkowskaStacia NapierkowskaStacia Napierkowska was a French actress and dancer, who worked during the silent film era. She appeared in 86 films between 1908 and 1926.-Biography:...
as Queen Antinea - Georges MelchiorGeorges MelchiorGeorges Melchior was a French actor of the silent era. He appeared in 67 films between 1911 and 1937.-Selected filmography:* Fantômas * L'Atlantide...
as Lt. de Saint-Avit - Marie-Louise Iribe as Tanit-Zerga
- Abd-el-Kader Ben Ali as Cegheir ben Cheik
- Mohamed Ben Noui as Guide Bou-Djema
- Paul Franceschi as Archivist
- André Roanne as Segheïr ben Cheïkh
- René Lorsay as Lt. Olivier Ferrières
Production and distribution
When Jacques Feyder obtained the rights to film Benoit's novel, he took the radical step of insisting that the film should be made on location in the Sahara, a strategy which no film-maker had previously used for a project on this scale. His whole cast and crew were taken to Algeria, first to the Aurès MountainsAurès Mountains
The Aurès , or Aurea, refers to an Amazigh language-speaking region in East Algeria, as well as an extension of the Atlas mountain range that lies to the east of the Saharan Atlas in eastern Algeria and northwestern Tunisia...
and then Djidjelli on the coast, for 8 months of filming. Even the interiors were filmed in an improvised studio in a tent outside Algiers, with sets by the painter Manuel Orazi
Manuel Orazi
Manuel Orazi was an Italian art nouveau illustrator and poster artist. He was born in Rome in 1860 and died in Paris in 1934. In 1895 he created the Calendrier Magique which was an occult-themed calender. It was limited to 777 copies and was made in collaboration with Austin De Croze...
.
Feyder initially borrowed production money from his cousin who was a director of Banque Thalmann. By the time of the film's release in October 1921, the costs had escalated to an unprecedented figure of nearly 2 million francs, and its financial backers rapidly sold their rights to the distributor Louis Aubert
Louis Aubert
Louis François Marie Aubert was a French composer.-Biography:Louis Aubert was a child prodigy. His parents, recognizing their son's musical talent, sent him to Paris to receive an education at an early age...
. The film soon became a huge success however and earned a great deal of money for Aubert; it ran at a Paris cinema for over one year and was widely sold abroad. Aubert re-released the film in 1928 and it had a renewed success.
A DVD version of the film was released in 2004, based on a restored copy at the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. This reveals the very high quality of the film's photography, and it includes a detailed scheme of colour tinting throughout the print. Its running time is about 30 minutes shorter than the reported length of the original. It has a new musical soundtrack by Eric Le Guen.
Reception
The celebrity of the source novel as well as the much-reported circumstances of the production ensured that the film received plenty of attention on its release. Despite the 3-hour running time and its sometimes slow pace, it proved enormously popular with the public and put Jacques Feyder into the front rank of French film-makers. The critical reception of the film was more mixed, with particular objections made against the central performance by Stacia Napierkowska; she had been a dancer and well-known film actress for many years, but was now past her prime, and Feyder regretted engaging her to portray the captivating Antinéa, especially when he found that she had gained an inappropriate amount of weight. However the undoubted success of the film was the grandeur of its locations and the photography of the desert landscapes. A much-quoted remark by Louis DellucLouis Delluc
Louis Delluc was a French film director, screen writer and film critic, many of whose late 1910s film writings for French newspapers were collected in the volume Cinema et cie...
was not wholly sarcastic: "There is one great actor in this film, that is the sand".
L'Atlantide was one of the earliest feature films to depict the French colonial presence in North Africa, and led the way for a series of other films made during the 1920s which emphasised the romantic and exotic aspects of the colonial experience; la|ter examples in this colonial tradition included Le Bled (1929), Le Grand Jeu
Le Grand Jeu (1934 film)
Le Grand Jeu is a 1934 French film directed by Jacques Feyder. It is a romantic drama set against the background of the French Foreign Legion, and the film was an example of poetic realism in the French cinema. The title Le Grand Jeu refers to the practice of reading the cards. Blanche asks whether...
(1934), and La Bandera
La Bandera (film)
La Bandera is a 1935 film directed by Julien Duvivier, based on a novel by Pierre Mac Orlan. -Plot:Curfew bells are ringing at night in Paris, while a man and his drunken girlfriend Jacqueline walk down the street. Pierre Gilieth comes out of house #25 looking very frightened, both Pierre Gilieth...
(1935).
Alternative titles
- Lost Atlantis (USA)
- Missing Husbands (USA)
- Die Loreley der Sahara (Germany)
External links
- L'Atlantide de Jacques Feyder: analysis of the film by Françoise Marchand
- L'Atlantide: pictures and notes