Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1923
The House of Mystery (1923 film)
Buy The House of Mystery (1923 film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'La Maison du mystre' (English: 'The House of Mystery') is a French silent serial film directed by Alexandre Volkoff for the Albatros film company. It was made during 1921 and 1922 and was first shown in 1923. It was co-written by and starred Ivan Mosjoukine.
Plot
Julien Villandrit is the owner of the estate of Les Basses-Bruyres and its textile factory, where the manager is his childhood friend Corradin. Julien marries his neighbour Rgine, unaware that Corradin also loves her. Julien is sent to gaol for a murder actually committed by Corradin. The only witness to the truth is the woodsman Rudeberg and Corradin buys his silence by paying for the education of his son Pascal. Julien's struggle to clear his name and to rescue Rgine and their daughter Christiane from Corradin's scheming extends over many years and faces many setbacks.
Cast
*Ivan Mosjoukine as Julien Villandrit
*Charles Vanel as Henri Corradin
*Hlne Darly as Rgine de Bettigny
*Francine Mussey as Christiane, daughter of Julien and Rgine
*Nicolas Koline as Rudeberg
*Wladimir Strijiewsky as Pascal, son of Rudeberg
*Bartkevitch as Marjory
*Sylvia Gray as Marjorie
*Claude Benedict as Gnral de Bettigny
*Nina Raievska as Mme de Bettigny
*Gilbert Dacheux as Urbain
*Simone Genevois as young Christiane
*Fabien Haziza as young Pascal
Production
In 1921 the Russian emigr producer Joseph N. Ermolieff undertook three film serials through his company Ermolieff-Cinma, including one based on 'La Maison du mystre' by the novelist Jules Mary. Filming began in the summer of 1921 but was then interrupted for six months when its star, Ivan Mosjoukine, contracted typhoid fever. When production resumed in 1922, it was under the aegis of Films Albatros, the successor to Ermolieff's company. The first episode was released in France on 23 March 1923 with its remaining nine episodes appearing at weekly intervals.Lenny Borger. [http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed_precedenti/screenings_recorden.php?ID=5307 Programme notes for 'La Maison du mystre'] at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2003. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20190417201457/http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/ed_precedenti/screenings_recorden.php?ID=5307 Archived] at the Wayback Machine, 17 April 2019.) Retrieved 14 July 2020.
The titles of the ten parts of the serial were: Episode 1: 'L'Ami flon'. Episode 2: 'Le Secret de l'tang'. Episode 3: 'L'Ambition au service de la haine'. Episode 4: 'L'Implacable Verdict'. Episode 5: 'Le Pont vivant'. Episode 6: 'La Voix du sang'. Episode 7: 'Les Caprices du destin'. Episode 8: 'Champ clos'. Episode 9: 'Les Angoisses de Corradin'. Episode 10: 'Le Triomphe de l'amour'.[https://www.cinematheque.fr/henri/film/145051-la-maison-du-mystere-episode-1-alexandre-volkoff-1922/ 'La Maison du mystre'] at Henri: Cinmathque franaise. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
Studio scenes were filmed in Montreuil and some location shooting was carried out in Nice and Cannes.[https://www.cinematheque.fr/catalogues/restaurations-tirages/film.php?id=51689 Catalogue des restaurations et tirages de la Cinmathque franaise]. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20191221102651/https://www.cinematheque.fr/catalogues/restaurations-tirages/film.php?id=51689 Archived] at the Wayback Machine, 21 December 2019.) Retrieved 14 July 2020. A number of the cast and the technicians were Russians who had moved to France after the Russian Revolution. The story allowed Ivan Mosjoukine to appear in numerous disguises in the course of the film and to display the range of his acting.Richard Abel. 'French cinema: the first wave 1915-1929'. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. p.77.
Reception
The response to the serial's release was positive: "Its success was immediate and phenomenal. Critics who had previously denounced the serial as artless, lowbrow fare were almost fulsome in their praise of the film's stylish upgrading of melodramatic clichs, sheer pictorial elegance, and narrative imagination, not to mention the utter credibility of the performances. For Mosjoukine it was the ultimate consecration after four succs d'estime, and once again served as a showcase for his multifarious talent. But the film also opened doors for Charles Vanel ... and the astonishing Nicolas Koline..."
One critic in 1923 admitted that his longstanding disdain for the serial film had been overturned by this example of the form: "It is no longer a case of a film made of preposterous situations, of astonishing escapades, of heroines ten times slain and ten times resurrected, but, on the contrary, of a very lucid adaptation of Jules Mary's novel. A grasp of rhythm, of weight, of truth, and beautiful photography full of clever discoveries are the mark of M. Volkoff's direction...."'L'Habitu du vendredi', in 'Cinmagazine', 23 mars 1923, p.512: "Il ne sagit plus l de faire du mtrage de situations abracadabrantes, daventures extraordinaires, dhrones dix fois tues et dix fois ressuscites, mais au contraire dune adaptation trs claire du roman de Jules Mary. Une science du rythme, de lintensit, de la vrit, une trs belle photographie o abondent dingnieuses trouvailles caractrisent la ralisation de M. Volkoff ...."
The film was re-released as a feature film in 1929 (with a running time of 159 minutes).
It was remade as a sound feature film with the same title directed by Gaston Rouds in 1933.
Restoration
The 1929 feature version of the film was restored in 1985 for the Cinmathque franaise by Rene Lichtig, and she completed a restoration of the serial version with tinting in 1992. A 3-disk DVD edition of the serial was issued in the USA by Flicker Alley in 2015.[https://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies-2/#!/The-House-of-Mystery-La-Maison-du-myst%C3%A8re/p/46850338 'La Maison du mystre'] at Flicker Alley. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
References
Buy The House of Mystery (1923 film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1923