Anything Goes : Learning from History - ‘L’Inhumaine’. by Geoff Hall

Well, I’m tucked away in my house. It seems to be a year of malady rather than remedy. I’m left pretty low on energy after another chest infection and whilst the ladies of the house were out and about, I took the opportunity of watching a film by a French director and auteur called Marcel L’Herbier and his film “L’INHUMAINE”.

(1924). It is a basic boy meets girl, girl dies, boy resurrects girl, storyline.

It’s one of those films which you come across when researching the early years of European Cinema, but then forget where you read about it. However, I did find a website which sold French films (the Lobster Films website) and this one was on there and of course it had the added luxury of English subtitles. I was more aware of Lang, Murnau and Wiene and had never heard of this French filmmaker.

I’m a believer that the wider the knowledge of our forebears that we have, the better films we will make. There is always something to learn.

This film is full of experimentation; the bending and melding of reality, (check out the clip) the colourisation cast of scenes into red, yellow, green, blue and purple, which in 1924 must have had a great effect on the audience. Yes, I’m aware of it’s use in German Films like ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’.

L’Herbier utilised the talent of Fernand Leger and Alberto Cavalcanti with production design. Leger, a famous French artist known for a style called Tubism (no, that’s not a typo) contributed with the design of the science laboratory and offers us a stunning visual experience.

Indeed it is reckoned that the film gives us the first use of the word ‘television’. For not only does the scientist know how to resurrect dead people, he also knows how to combine sound and vision. What we see, is very much like what we’d call a Zoom Meeting these days.

L’Herbier used his own company to produce the film, Cinegraphic of Paris and was surrounded by exceptionally talented people, which must have helped him in the realisation of his dreams.

This version had music from Aidje Tafial, which added a wonderful Light French Jazz vibe. It was superb.

The version I watched, unlike the clip, is a 4K Restoration and looks absolutely magnificent. I’m astounded that this is 1924 and made at a time of great upheaval in Europe. And yet this film shines through to excite us all with the possibility of realising our own dreams. Well done Marcel L’Herbier.

https://youtu.be/OcRLggVlOJk