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Classic French Film Festival Kicks Off Friday Night with BE MY WIFE – Silent Comedy from 1921
I’ve seen silent films accompanied by music from The Poor People of Paris before. It’s always a treat so don’t miss your opportunity this Friday night. This looks fantastic!
The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s (with a particular focus on filmmakers from the New Wave), offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema.
The event kicks off this Friday with the 1921 silent comedy BE MY WIFE with live music by The Poor People of Paris.
The great silent comedian Max Linder (the stage name of Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle) was France’s rival to Charlie Chaplin, who called him “the great master.” One of the first stars to establish a continuing comic persona, Linder introduced his longtime character Max, a high-society dandy, in 1907. By 1912, Linder had taken full control of the filmmaking process – writing, directing, and starring in his own shorts – and in 1916 he was lured to the U.S., where he made both films in this nuptials-themed double bill. In the short “Max Wants a Divorce,” the comedian must extricate himself from a marriage to secure an inheritance; in the feature “Be My Wife,” Max must instead overcome the objections of a disapproving aunt to wed his beloved.
Tragically, in his later years, Linder suffered from severe depression – perhaps the result of trauma from his World War I service – and he committed suicide in 1925. Because of his career’s brevity and relative handful of features, Linder has largely been forgotten outside of his native France. The films in this program thus provide a rare opportunity to see Linder’s work on the big screen, an experience further enhanced by live musical accompaniment from Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris. The New Yorker describes the “elegant and acrobatic” Linder as “one of the cinema’s great prodigies” and declares the newly restored “Be My Wife” – long available only in fragmentary form – his “masterwork.”
BE MY WIFE screens at 7pm Friday, June 13th at the St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park.
With an introduction and post-film discussion by Cate Marquis, film critic for the St. Louis Jewish Light and co-founder of the St. Louis Film Critics professional association.
Admission: $12 general admission; $10 for students, Cinema St. Louis members, Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) members, and Alliance Française members; Webster U. screenings free for Webster U. students.
A PDF version of the Classic French Film Festival program is available to download HERE:
Check back later in the week here at We Are Movie Geeks for more information about the Classic French Film Festival
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