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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Title: The Little Match Girl (1928)
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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 |
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Plot Summary
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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.
Plot Keywords:
based on folktale | freezing to death | match | impressionism | christmas tree |Parents Guide:
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
FranceLanguage:
FrenchRelease Date:
8 June 1928 (France) See more »Also Known As:
Das kleine Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
SilentColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1
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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. See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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Little Match Girl, The (1928)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Jean Renoir's short film based on the story of Hans Christian Anderson features the director's then wife Catherine Hessling in the title role. The film tells the story of a poor girl who goes out on a snowy night to sell matches. She's unable to sell any and instead of going back to her shack, she stays out keeping warm from the matches. She strikes one lucky match and begins to see all sorts of strange things through a toy shop window. This film starts off pretty well but slowly gets boring as the surreal aspects of the story start to set in. The fantasy side of things are pretty good but it's clear Renoir was going for something a tad bit surreal and the budget just didn't allow for this to work. All of the fantasy sequences are good on their own but none of them are done well enough to really work. Hessling is much too old to be playing the character but she is able to bring an innocence to the role.