La dixième symphonie

Abel Gance was always a Titan,one of the most ambitious directors France has ever known."La Dixième Symphonie" was as demanding a film as anything the pioneer made.He asked a young musician Michel-Maurice Levy to compose an original score for his film.But at the time ,there was no dolby system and all that paraphernalia and most of the movie theaters were not equipped to play the music with a full orchestra.Hence the failure.Other innovation: these are not black and white but monochromatic pictures (sometimes blue,orange,sometimes even two or three colors).

As for the story it's melodrama.As a writer,Gance was not a genius .Even his much-admired "la Roue" is full bore melodrama.Woman leaves wicked husband after killing his wicked sister -the hubby told the police it was a suicide after receiving a whole lot of dough-.She gets married again with a musician whose daughter falls in love with....well,you've guessed it,her mother-in-law's former husband.In order to save her stepdaughter from misfortune,she tells her new husband his daughter's fiancé is her lover.You get the picture! "I'm going to sublimate my sufferings ,I'm going to make it a symphony" the artists says out of despair.The symphony is performed ,and the musician gets a standing ovation and the critical acclaim.Now he is famous.(The musical sequence lasts about ten minutes).

I'm not sure that today's audience can relate to this Gance's work.It's a curio,but it's not among his most successful achievements.