L'argent (1928)

[pro-bassoonist]

Coming this Fall from MOC in the UK.

Synopsis:

The business tycoon Nicolas Saccard is nearly ruined by his rival Gunderman, when he tries to raise capital for his company. To push up the price of his stock, Saccard plans a publicity stunt involving the aviator Jacques Hamelin flying across the Atlantic to Guyana and drilling for oil there, much to the dismay of Hamelin's wife Line. While Hamelin is away, Saccard tries to seduce Line. Line finally realizes that she and her husband were pawns in Saccard's scheme, and she accuses him of stock fraud. Written by Will Gilbert

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Coverwork for the recently released Carlotta disc in France:



Pro-B

[NoirFan]

Another fantastic looking MoC release. It looks as if they are planning on releasing The Devil and Daniel Webster in January.

[dmkb]

Kudos to MoC for bringing this out - I do like the Carlotta cover a bit more tho'.

[NoirFan]

Extras, from Movie Mail:

* A pristine transfer from a fine grain print struck from the original negative, featuring the director's cut fought for by L'Herbier over many years, the film speed as projected in the late 1920s, and the entirety of each frame fully displayed
* New and improved English subtitles
* Newly improvised musical accompaniment by French composer and pianist Jean-François Zygel, who also provides a video introduction to the film and a documentary about accompanying silent cinema
* About L'Argent [Autour de L'Argent](1928) – Jean Dréville's 40 minute "making of" documentary
* Archival footage of star Brigitte Helm (fresh from Fritz Lang's Metropolis) arriving in Paris for the shooting of L'Herbier's film
* Archival screen-tests of the L'Argent actors
* Marcel L'Herbier: Poet of the Silent Art (2007)– a 54 minute documentary profiling the director
* A demonstration of L'Herbier's innovative sound techniques, which used 78rpm records during key scenes of L'Argent
* A lavish 80-page perfect-bound booklet with archival publicity stills, a long essay by noted professor of French film Richard Abel, newly translated interviews with L'Herbier, and newly translated extracts from the director's biography.

[AGameWithStones]

Those specs sound amazing.

This has been a remarkable year for French silent cinema...the complete Georges Melies, La Roue, and J'Accuse from Flicker Alley, the remastered Les Vampires from Artificial Eye, and now this.

[PopcornTreeCt]

Sounds good. Wait a second...this isn't the one directed by Bresson? Hmm...

[Richard Malloy]

I confess I'm not at all familiar with this film ... a late 20s flick about securities fraud? And an inspiration for Bresson's film of the same name? Really interesting.

[Tutut]

Originally Posted by Richard Malloy

I confess I'm not at all familiar with this film ... a late 20s flick about securities fraud? And an inspiration for Bresson's film of the same name? Really interesting.

The film from L'herbier is based on the book from Emile Zola, Bresson adapted a story from Tolstoy, "The Forged Coupon".

[pro-bassoonist]

I am very much looking forward to the booklet as well. These have been incredibly-well done thus far and are typically very interesting to read through.

Pro-B

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

I am very much looking forward to the booklet as well. These have been incredibly-well done thus far and are typically very interesting to read through.

Pro-B

Yes, MoC's booklets (actual books in some cases) are truly wonderful - they leave Criterion's in the dust.

[NoirFan]

DVD Beaver on L'Argent. Can't wait for my pre-order to arrive.