The Little Match Girl (1928)

An impoverished girl tries to sell matches on NYE. Shivering with cold and unable to sell her wares, she sits in a sheltered nook. Striking a match to keep warm, she sees things in the flame.

Directors:

Jean Renoir, Jean Tédesco

Writers:

Hans Christian Andersen (story), Jean Renoir

Stars:

Catherine Hessling, Eric Barclay, Jean Storm

Cast

Credited cast:
Catherine Hessling	...	Karen
Eric Barclay
Jean Storm	...	Axel Ott / soldat en bois
Manuel Raaby
Amy Wells
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guy Ferrant
Mme. Heuschling	...	Une passante
Comtesse Tolstoi	...	La dame au chien

Storyline

An impoverished girl tries to sell matches on NYE. Shivering with cold and unable to sell her wares, she sits in a sheltered nook. Striking a match to keep warm, she sees things in the flame.

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Plot Keywords:

based on folktale | freezing to death | match | impressionism | christmas tree | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

8 June 1928 (France)

Also Known As:

Das kleine Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

40 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce, dances a small duet as a toy soldier in this film. She had studied under Isadora Duncan's eccentric brother Raymond.

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Connections

Version of The Little Match Girl (1974)

User Reviews

Early Renoir

This short early silent from the French master Renoir shows a good deal of imagination on the director's part – although not in terms of casting: he once more looked no further than his then wife Catherine Hessling whom he was trying to build into a star for the lead role. Hessling is too old for the part, but at times she does manage to convey a degree of innocence required for the role, even if it does mean her performance borders on the (deliberately) comical at times. This being an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's tragic short story, these brief light-hearted moments are at odds with the general theme.

The second part of the film veers off into fantasy as we're treated to the girl's childlike fantasies as she slowly freezes to death. Again, there's a good deal of imagination gone into this sequence, but it does become a little repetitive after a while. The spectre of Death, initially in the form of a Jack-in-the-Box, looms over the fantasies, however, until the film climaxes with a concisely edited chase sequence on horseback.

This is a curious choice of story for Renoir, and it obviously doesn't reach the standard of his later output. However, it possesses a Gallic charm that sets it apart from most films of the era, and is worth catching simply to see a master of cinema near the beginning of his cinematic career.