Le mystère des roches de Kador (1912)

Director:

Léonce Perret

Stars:

Suzanne Grandais, Émile Keppens, Léonce Perret

Cast

Cast overview:
Suzanne Grandais	...	Suzanne de Lormel
Émile Keppens	...	Le professeur Williams
Léonce Perret	...	Comte Fernand de Kéranic
Max Dhartigny	...	Le capitaine Jean d'Erquy
Jean Aymé	...	Maître Létang de Jeandé
Louis Leubas	...	Le chef de la sûreté (as Louis Lebas)

Storyline

Details

Country:

France

Release Date:

1 December 1912 (France)

Also Known As:

Het geheim van de rotsen van Kador

Company Credits

Production Co:

Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Seul le cinéma (1997)

User Reviews

A personal mystery is solved

When I watched Jean-Luc Godard's documentary series Histoire(s) Du Cinema, there was a quick image from a silent film of a woman open mouthed, collapsing in front of a movie screen. The brief clip impressed me, but I had no way of knowing what the film's title was. A few months later, I am watching the Gaumont Treasures DVDs and I stumble onto the film with that clip. A personal mystery is solved!

The above mentioned scene is the centerpiece of this forty minute thriller. The plot is the classic of a scoundrel trying to do away with an heir to inherit a fortune. The mystery of the title isn't much of one, but the film is fun and also unexpected. A psychiatrist uses a motion picture camera to treat a patient, re-creating a traumatic event in that patient's life. This is an unconventional moment of self-reflexion for a film from 1912. I was fascinated. In addition to the set up, the actors are wonderful. Some have found director Leonce Perret wrong for the role of the scoundrel, but I found him appropriately light-hearted AND evil. His reactions during the masked ball finale are perfect. I actually prefer The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador to Perret's more revered The Child of Paris. It was a good time!