The man from the street
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man from the street |
| Original title | Crainquebille |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1922 |
| length | 6 acts, 1800 meters, 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jacques Feyder |
| script | Jacques Feyder |
| production | A. Legrand, Paris |
| music | Antonio Coppola (2006) |
| camera | Léonce-Henri Burel, Maurice Forster |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Mann von der Straße is the German title of the French silent film "Crainquebille", which Jacques Feyder made in 1922 based on the novella "L'affaire Crainquebille" by Anatole France for the production company Films A. Legrand. He had written the script himself. The main role was given by the respected theater actor Maurice de Féraudy , a member of the Comédie Francaise .
action
The action takes place in Paris in the 1920s. For fifty years, Jérôme Crainquebille (Maurice de Féraudy) has been selling vegetables in the streets of the city from his little cart. When one day a policeman, who feels he is not being taken seriously, clashes with the friendly street vendor because he misunderstands his answer, even the testimony of a neutral observer (Charles Mosnier) cannot help him. Judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys have fun with the thoroughly honest but poorly educated man, and finally send him to prison for fifteen days. Crainquebille, however, feels less bad about his imprisonment than he initially feared, and he almost enjoys it; his cell offers him considerably more comfort than the old barn in which he would otherwise have to spend the night. After his release, however, there is a rude awakening: his customers stay away. Suddenly nobody wants to buy from him anymore because he has “sat”.
Thus deprived of his livelihood, the old man begins to drink. Little by little, he sinks into a vagabond who not only loses his belongings, but also the lust for life. Only the care of a little boy, whom everyone calls just “the mouse”, is able to keep Crainquebille from jumping into the Seine and bring him back to life.
background
The short story by Anatole France was written in 1902 and has 110 pages. Jacques Feyder and Manuel Orazi designed and built the set. The photographers were Léonce-Henri Burel and Maurice Forster. The producing companies were Les Films Trarieux & Legrand Paris and Vita-Film AG Vienna. The film premiered in France after a corporate presentation at the Artistic Cinéma Paris on December 4, 1922, and on March 2, 1923 at the Electric-Cinéma in Paris .
In America it ran on September 2, 1923 under the title Coster Bill of Paris in the "Rialto" in New York City . Hugo Riesenfeld took care of the processing . It was awarded overseas by Red Seal Pictures .
In Germany it was available to the censors on March 23, 1925 with a length of 5 files equal to 1589 meters and was registered under test no. B. 10156 for “youth free”. Here he was called “The Man from the Street”, in Austria “Crainquebille - The Man from the Street”. In Germany the premiere took place on May 5, 1925 in Berlin's UT Kurfürstendamm , in Austria on March 14, 1924 in Vienna. It was awarded by Vita-Film AG
Jean Forest, who played the boy "the mouse" and made his film debut in this role, was also used by Feyder in two other films about children, "Visage d'Enfants" and "Gribiche".
reception
The New York Times named "Crainquebille" one of the best films of the year and rated its performance at the Rialto Theater on September 3, 1923 as follows: "'Bill,' which is Anatole France's 'Crainquebille,' was shown privately the other day and now is enjoying the honor of sharing the Rivoli screen with 'Salomy Jane' in which Jacqueline Logan has the principal role. This is a beautiful, simple production with an inspiring actor in the title role. "
DW Griffith said to a journalist after visiting "Crainquebille": "I have seen a film that, for me, symbolizes Paris. That man with his barrow load of vegetables - what a striking image - and how forceful! And Feraudy - great, powerful acting! A fine work, beautiful, compelling, bold! ".
“True, the film has a prestigious pedigree, being an adaptation of an Anatole France novel and starring a famous theater actor. Yet the story is simple and told in a relatively straightforward manner. Most of the action arises from a misunderstanding: A gendarme, thinking Crainquebille has insulted him, arrests him. A leisurely scene shows the protagonist enjoying the unusual luxury of his prison cell: a comfy bed, free meals, a toasty radiator, hot and cold water in a pristine sink, and a floor clean enough to eat off. A working-class audience would probably find this wryly amusing. " (David Boardwell)
The misunderstanding that brings Crainquebille to prison is that the gendarme “Mort aux vaches!” understands, a term that - originated in the wake of the 1870 war against Prussia and refers to the German word "guard" - due to the echo of the French vache (cow), originally used as a mockery initially against the Germans, but then against the authorities and theirs Had become a general representative.
“Crainquebille” shows a class judiciary that acts completely without hesitation in the interests of the powerful. The narrative appeared as the Dreyfus Affair was nearing its climax and is undoubtedly to be seen in this context. The criticism of the justice system is also generally valid, as it shows the helplessness of the simple, penniless and uneducated person in the courtroom, before its rituals and the aloof language that prevails there. (Oliver Scheiber)
“The scenes in the court, indeed, have an almost farcical quality to them, as we see defense, prosecution and judge respectively amuse themselves, showing little interest in what's going on before them, and the statue of justice at the front of the courtroom turns and looks accusingly at the poor wretches in the dock. " (Ewan at the cinema, March 28, 2014).
Famous is the courtroom scene in which a witness shrinks from fear and then becomes a giant when he regains his balance. (Christoph Huber)
In Belgium the film was banned in 1923 due to “lack of respect for the law”.
- Survival:
The novella “Crainquebille” was realized in 1933 by Jacques de Baroncelli with Félicien Tramel in the title role and in 1954 by Ralph Habib with Yves Deniaud as a sound film remake . In 1965, Josef Stauder and Gisela Sieber-Franze set up “Crainquebille” for television in the GDR with Walter Lendrich in the lead role as a television production.
- Re-performance:
“Crainquebille” was broadcast on German television on the culture channel Arte on March 31, 2006, after it was restored in 2005 by “Lobster Films” with historical advice from Lenny Borger ; Antonio Coppola and the group "L'Octuor de France" provided the sound track for the restored version.
literature
- Herbert Birett: Silent film music. Material collection. Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin 1970.
- Jacques-B. Brunius, Jean-Pierre Pagliano: En marge du cinéma français. (= Cinéma vivant. Collection "Cinéma vivant": Histoire et théorie du cinéma ). Verlag L'AGE D'HOMME, 1987, p. 59. (French)
- Paolo Caneppele, Günter Krenn, Francesco Bono (eds.): Electric shadows. Filmarchiv Austria Verlag, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-901932-02-X , pp. 70, 187.
- Felicia Feaster: Crainquebille. at Turner Classic Movier TCM (tcm.com) (English)
- Brigitte Mayr, Michael Omasta (ed.): Fritz Rosenfeld, film critic. (= Proletarian cinema in Austria. Fritz Rosenfeld: Film critic, Friedrich Feld. Volume 2). Filmarchiv Austria Publishing House, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902531-27-8 , pp. 200, 303, 306.
- Anatole France: Crainquebille. In: French storytellers from Chateaubriand to France. Dieterich, Leipzig 1951.
- Ulrich Gregor, Enno Patalas: History of the film. Volume 1, Rowohlt, Reinbek / Berlin 1976, ISBN 3-499-16193-1 , p. 152.
- David I. Grossvogel: Marianne and the Puritan: Transformations of the Couple in French and American Films. Lexington Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7391-0946-4 , p. 89. (English)
- Jean-Louis Robert, Myriam Tsikounas, Martine Tabeaud: Les Halles: images d'un quartier. (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Geography. Volume 20). Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-85944-444-0 , p. 160. (French)
- Oliver Scheiber (Ed.): "On the stake of paragraphs" - judges as literary creatures. Münster: LIT-Verlag, 2007.
- Hans Scheugl, Ernst Schmidt: A sub-story of the film. (= Edition Suhrkamp. Volume 471). Suhrkamp publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 297.
- Peter Weiss: Avant-garde film. Verlag Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1995, pp. 14, 166, 180.
- Dieter Wenk: Before the law. April 22, 2006. (textem.de)
- Friedrich von Zglinicki: The way of the film. History of cinematography and its predecessors. Rembrandt Verlag, Berlin 1956, p. 478.
Web links
- The man in the street in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The man from the street at filmportal.de
- The Man from the Street in the online movie database
- Crainquebille at arte.tv
Illustrations:
- Cinema poster © Pathé cinema-francais.fr
- Cinema poster by Calderé media.senscritique.com
- Cinema poster from Poulbot medias.unifrance.org
- Drafts for “Crainquebille” by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859–1923) Crainquebille.jpg
- Artist postcard from Maurice de Féraudy farm9.staticflickr.com
- Stand photo : Crainquebille in front of his cart silentera.com
- Stand photo : Crainquebille and “the mouse” silentera.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Table of contents based on ofdb.de and Scheiber 2007.
- ↑ Zglinicki p. 478.
- ↑ filmportal.de
- ↑ opened on April 21, 1916; Interior view of the theater at nycago.org , exterior facade at nycago.org
- ↑ John DeBartolo at silentsaregolden.com
- ↑ IMDb release info (imdb.com)
- ↑ Zglinicki p. 439 f.
- ↑ so filmportal.de
- ↑ France 1923/1925, cf. imdb.com , also ran in Germany under the title “Kindergesichter” or “After the mother's death”
- ↑ France 1926, cf. imdb.com , ran in Germany under the title “Heimweh nach der Gasse”.
- ↑ John DeBartolo at silentsaregolden.com
- ↑ John DeBartolo at silentsaregolden.com
- ↑ in: The grandiose and the modest as French Impressionism defines itself (binitasharma95.blogspot.de)
- ↑ fr.wiki: “« Mort aux vaches! »: Cette expression qui apparaît dans la nouvelle vient de la guerre franco-prussienne de 1870 pendant laquelle les guérites des gardes-frontières allemands étaient surmontées de l'inscription“ guard ”, garde, sentinelle en allemand. Par extension et francisation Wache est devenu vache et servait à l'origine à insulter les allemands, puis la police et les gendarmes. ”
- ↑ on March 15, 2014 in: Anatole France 'Crainquebille. The criminal trial as a religious spectacle. (oliverscheiber.blogspot.de)
- ↑ Ewan at the cinema filmcentric.wordpress.com
- ↑ stummfilm.at
- ↑ IMDb / trivia (imdb.com)
- ↑ imdb.com
- ^ French title Crainquebille, marchand des quatre saisons. Awarded title in the GDR: “The greengrocer of Paris”, cf. imdb.com
- ↑ fernsehenderddr.de
- ↑ arte.tv ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ arte.tv ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
