Crainquebille **** (1922, Maurice de Féraudy, Françoise Rosay, Félix Oudart, Jean Forest, Marguerite Carré) – Classic Movie Review 12,190

Jacques Feyder’s beautiful 1922 French silent film Crainquebille stars Maurice de Féraudy, Françoise Rosay, Félix Oudart, Jean Forest and Marguerite Carré.

Maurice de Féraudy shines as Jérôme Crainquebille, an ageing Paris vegetable salesman in Les Halles market, who is jailed after a farcical trial for supposedly swearing at a policeman, in this Chaplinesque classic French silent fantasy film based on Anatole France’s short story L’affaire Crainquebille.

In jail, Crainquebille enjoys free shelter and food. But on release, his past customers shun him, and he becomes a penniless alcoholic and a loathed tramp. He is about to commit suicide when a street boy called Mouse persuades him to make a fresh start.

Jacques Feyder films with a masterly, stylish mix of cinematic realism and dream sequences.

It offers a first important role for Feyder’s wife, Françoise Rosay.

It was reshot in 1933 and 1954.

The film is known as Bill in the US, and as Old Bill of Paris and Coster Bill of Paris in the UK.

Crainquebille the street vendor.

The running time of the original release is 90 minutes. A 76-minute restored 35mm version of the film, with a music score composed by Antonio Coppola and performed by L’Octuor de France, was produced by Lobster Films in Paris in association with Lenny Borger in 2005, and was released on DVD by Home Vision Entertainment in 2006.

The cast are Maurice de Féraudy as Jérôme Crainquebille, Félix Oudart as L’agent 64, Jean Forest as La Souris, Marguerite Carré as Mme Laure, Jeanne Cheirel as Mme Bayard, René Worms as M Lemerle, Charles Mosnier, Armand Numès, and Françoise Rosay.

Crainquebille is directed by Jacques Feyder, runs 90 minutes, is made by Trarieux, is released by Red Seal Pictures (1923 US release), is written by Jacques Feyder, is shot by Léonce-Henri Burel, and is designed by Jacques Feyder.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,190

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