Credited cast: | |||
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Romuald Joubé | ... | Chrétien Lescuyer |
Sylvie | ... | Louise Rameau | |
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Jacques Grétillat | ... | Prosper Aubry |
Léon Bernard | ... | Donadieu - the sculptor | |
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Séphora Mossé | ... | Perrinette |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Mona Gondré | ... | Chrétien - as a child |
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René Hiéronimus | ... | Grosse Caisse |
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Henri Jeanson | ... | Un enfant |
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René Rocher | ... | Chrétien Forgeat |
A prosecuting attorney commences his summing-up : the defendant is his son whose pitiful fate led him to murder ; the magistrate left his mother he got pregnant and the unwed poor thing had to fight against a hostile world .She married a brutal man who mistreated his son-in-law .When she died,he was sent to a penal colony .After his release ,he was forced to borrow money from a pawnbroker he killed;The magistrate asks the jury to show leniency towards his client/son. Written by dbdumonteil
We get the impression that the french Cinema hit its peak in the WW1 period with Feuillade and this film representing a more serious line.
The plot is a far-fetched account of his past sins catching up with the prosecutor but the performances and the use of genuine Paris exteriors, Jardin du Luxembourg, Seine transport, many of them unchanged to the present are ahead of most of what was being done at the time.
Interesting to find VIEILLE DAME INDIGNE Sylvie appearing as a teen age ingénue.
The presence of Julien Duvivier on the credits also intrigues.
It survives in a reasonable Cinematheque Francaise 35mm. copy.