Zeus

Stars:

Henry Roussel, Emile Tramont, Henri Gouget  

 

"Figures De Cire" (1914) was another work for "Éclair" films. It was Tourneur's second collaboration with André de Lorde. Lorde was the master of the "Grand Guignol" genre, those theatrical works full of terrifying realistic elements such as murders, mutilations and other bloodcurdling situations that the Parisians liked so much at the beginning of the last century.

Due to those artistic references, not to mention that "Figures De Cire" was considered lost until 2007, the film is very estimable. This short film ( 11 minutes ) summarizes its theatrical references with the virtues of the "Grand Guignol" genre but transferred to the silent screen. Touneur was more interested in the psychological aspect of the story than to show effective special effects. For that reason, it is especially remarkable because of its ill, decadent and threatening atmosphere.

It is obvious that "Figures De Cire" was an illustrious reference for Gance's "Au Secours" (1924) (Gance made a comedy with basically the same plot that has "Figures De Cire". That is to say, a man must spend a night in a sinister place in order to gain an important sum of money… by the way, in those silent times, bourgeois men were very stylish and spent those dreadful nights with top hat and tuxedos… ). 

Here is the link to the movie at the Internet Movie database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002181/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1