Mademoiselle from Armentieres (film)
Encyclopedia
Mademoiselle from Armentieres is a 1926
British World War I silent film
drama, directed by Maurice Elvey
and starring Estelle Brody
and John Stuart
. The film was Elvey's first collaboration with producer Victor Saville
.
. British soldier Johnny (Stuart) has fallen in love with her, and she shows signs of reciprocation. The local liaison officer asks Mademoiselle whether she can find out anything about a customer named Branz, who has aroused suspicion. By working her charms on him to gain his confidence, she discovers that he is a German spy. Mademoiselle has to keep her mission secret to avoid giving away her real motives. However Johnny misinterprets the attention she pays to Brandt, assuming her to be fickle.
Johnny is summoned to the fighting line before Mademoiselle can explain herself. Once she has fulfilled her mission, she goes in search of Johnny to put him in the picture. She finds his regiment in a captured German trench, with Johnny wounded. Then the trench is recaptured by the Germans with Branz in tow. Things look bleak until the British forces counter-attack and once again take the trench, killing Branz in the process. Mademoiselle and Johnny are trapped when the trench wall collapses, but manage to extricate themselves and look forward to their future together.
The British Film Institute
holds fragments amounting to around one third of the film in the BFI National Archive
, but the remaining two thirds cannot be found and the film as a whole is classed as "missing, believed lost". It is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
" list of missing British feature films.
1926 in film
-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
British World War I silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
drama, directed by Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey was the most prolific film director in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year....
and starring Estelle Brody
Estelle Brody
Estelle Brody was an American actress who became one of the biggest female stars of British silent film in the latter half of the 1920s...
and John Stuart
John Stuart (actor)
John Stuart, born John Alfred Louden Croall , was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock....
. The film was Elvey's first collaboration with producer Victor Saville
Victor Saville
Victor Saville was an English film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954...
.
Plot
The unnamed Mademoiselle (Brody) helps her aunt to run a restaurant in ArmentièresArmentières
Armentières is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole, and lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys....
. British soldier Johnny (Stuart) has fallen in love with her, and she shows signs of reciprocation. The local liaison officer asks Mademoiselle whether she can find out anything about a customer named Branz, who has aroused suspicion. By working her charms on him to gain his confidence, she discovers that he is a German spy. Mademoiselle has to keep her mission secret to avoid giving away her real motives. However Johnny misinterprets the attention she pays to Brandt, assuming her to be fickle.
Johnny is summoned to the fighting line before Mademoiselle can explain herself. Once she has fulfilled her mission, she goes in search of Johnny to put him in the picture. She finds his regiment in a captured German trench, with Johnny wounded. Then the trench is recaptured by the Germans with Branz in tow. Things look bleak until the British forces counter-attack and once again take the trench, killing Branz in the process. Mademoiselle and Johnny are trapped when the trench wall collapses, but manage to extricate themselves and look forward to their future together.
Cast
- Estelle BrodyEstelle BrodyEstelle Brody was an American actress who became one of the biggest female stars of British silent film in the latter half of the 1920s...
as Mademoiselle - John StuartJohn Stuart (actor)John Stuart, born John Alfred Louden Croall , was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock....
as Johnny - Marie AultMarie AultMarie Ault was a British actress.Born at Wigan, Lancashire, she was a star in many British films of the silent era but is most remembered for her role as Daisy Bunting's mother in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog directed by Alfred Hitchcock.She also had bit parts in films such as Jamaica...
as Aunt - Gabriel Rosca as Branz
- Alf GoddardAlf GoddardAlf Goddard was a British film actor.Brother of a famous boxer, Alf Goddard was once a boxer too. He was also a trained athlete and a professional dancer. He served in the army in World War I and when he was invalided out he worked on munitions. He made his stage debut in a musical hall act in 1916...
as Fred - Clifford HeatherleyClifford Heatherley-Selected filmography:* The Tavern Knight * The Autumn of Pride * Mademoiselle from Armentieres * The King's Highway * The Constant Nymph * Champagne * The W Plan...
as Interrogator - Humberston Wright as Old Soldier
- Boris Ranevsky as Liaison Officer
Later history
The film opened in London in September 1926 and was still playing in cinemas around the country until well into 1927. It was reportedly the most profitable British film of 1926 and made an instant star of Brody.The British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
holds fragments amounting to around one third of the film in the BFI National Archive
BFI National Archive
The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was originally set up as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955 its name became the National Film Archive, and in 1992, the...
, but the remaining two thirds cannot be found and the film as a whole is classed as "missing, believed lost". It is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted
BFI 75 Most Wanted
The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled by the British Film Institute of their most sought-after British feature films not currently held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota quickies and B-movies to lavish prestige...
" list of missing British feature films.