The best Edmond van Daële’s movies
We present our ranking of the best Edmond van Daële’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about Edmond van Daële.
Napoleon
8.2/10
A massive 5 1/2 hour biopic of Napoleon, tracing his career from his schooldays (where a snowball fight is staged like a military campaign), his flight from Corsica, through the French Revolution (where a real storm is intercut with a political storm) and the Terror, culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797 (the film stops there because it was intended to be part one of six, but director Abel Gance never raised the money to make the other five). The film's legendary reputation is due to the astonishing range of techniques that Gance uses to tell his story, culminating in the final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens.
Cagliostro
6.5/10
Paris, France, 1784. After living many tribulations, Joseph Balsamo, known as Count Cagliostro, an infamous adventurer, enigmatic magician and necromancer, experienced physician and ruthless swordsman, triumphs among the members of the decadent French aristocracy. But a bold foretelling about a very prominent noblewoman causes his fall in disgrace… (Partially lost film.)
Le Tunnel
5.6/10
An engineer is hired to plan and oversee the construction of a undersea tunnel between Europe and the US. However, certain interests don't want to see the tunnel built and use every means at their disposal, including sabotage and murder, to stop its construction. French-language version of the 1933 German DER TUNNEL, q.v.
Cœur fidèle
7.4/10
The good guys win out in this sweet tale about a young orphan who is abused for much of her life but who eventually finds happiness when she marries an honest man who extricates her from her situation.
Maria Chapdelaine
6.5/10
A young woman has three suitors on her father's logging ranch on the Quebec frontier.
Behold the Man
6.6/10
The final days of Jesus from the time he enters the city of Jerusalem. Viewed as a threat, it is decided that he must be captured, tried, and executed as a criminal, a plan aided and abetted by disciple Judas Iscariot.
Napoléon Bonaparte
7.9/10
A second version of Gance's Napoléon, with sound.
Fièvre
6.4/10
Militis, a sailor, returns to a bar where he finds Sarah, the girl he once loved and is still attracted to. However, he is now married to an exotic woman who took care of him during an illness. In 2008, a new version of the film was released with the full French intertitles from an original negative.
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
6.4/10
Mathilde Strangerson, the daughter of an eminent scientist, narrowly escapes being murdered in her own bedroom by an unknown assailant. As the room was locked from the inside, no one can understand how the attacker managed to enter or leave the room. Reporter and amateur sleuth Joseph Rouletabille arrives on the scene to protect Mathilde and resolve the mystery of the yellow room.
Six et demi onze
6.9/10
A renowned doctor and his brother live and work together until the brother falls in love with Marie, a singer, and gives up medicine to be with her. After a time however, she misses her old life and goes back on the stage - an act which leads her lover to commit suicide. Later the doctor and Marie also meet, and she becomes his mistress. He finds out about his brother's suicide and goes through his artifacts looking for a clue as to what might have been the cause. He finds a photograph of Marie and realizes the truth, which decimates their relationship.
Les Roquevillard
A family of strict magistrates holds firm in protecting one of their members,who commits an error which provokes a storm of outrage.
Scent of the Woman in Black
6.5/10
The story takes place on the Riviera, where the title character may or may not be involved in various shades of skullduggery, including murder.
The Flood
6.6/10
In a village on the banks of the Rhone river, Alban, a young farmer, is about to marry Margot. Monsieur Broc, a town hall employee, discovers his daughter is taken with Alban. When he rejects her, she collapses. Suddenly, the river rises and floods the village. One evening, Margot disapears… This peasant drama, adapted from a novel by André Corthis and shot during an actual flood of the Rhone, was Delluc’s last. The human madness is an echo to nature’s fury, magnified by moving images of a Provence submerged by water and mist.
The Agony of Jerusalem
6.2/10
A former professor and devout Catholic living in Jerusalem is unaware that his son supposedly studying in Paris has actually become the leader of an anarchist network under the codename Sirias.
