''Histoire d'un crime'' is a 1901 French

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

directed by

Ferdinand Zecca Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947) was a pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationall ...

and distributed by

Pathé Frères Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

.Lanzoni 2004, p. 42. The film stars Jean Liézer as the murderer and was based on a contemporary tableau series titled "L'histoire d'un crime" at the

Musée Grévin The ' (; ) () is a wax museum located on the Grands Boulevards in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. The also has a location in Seoul. opened in 2013, and closed in 2021. History The museum was founded in 1882 by ...

.Schwartz 1999, p. 146. ''Histoire d'un crime'' is considered the first French

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

and among the first to use seedy, realistic settings.Austin 1996, p. 3. Film historian Don Fairservice has noted ''Histoire d'un crime'' was "very influential."Fairservice 2002, p. 28.Doane 2002, p. 17. Zecca had convinced

Charles Pathé Charles Morand Pathé (; 26 December 1863 – 25 December 1957) was a pioneer of the French film and recording industries. As the founder of Pathé, Pathé Frères, its roots lie in 1896 Paris, France, when Pathé and his brothers pioneered ...

that other film subjects could supplement the Pathé documentaries. His other films included comedies, trick films,Paris 1995, p. 11. or fairy tales, such as ''Les Sept châteaux du Diable'', both 1901, and ''La Belle au bois dormant'' in 1902, as well as social dramas like '' Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme'' (1902), ''Au pays noir'' (1905) and reconstructions of actual events, the most famous being ''La Catastrophe de la Martinique'' (1902).

Plot

During a

home invasion A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching i ...

, a sleeping bank employee is awakened by a

burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving trespass to land, the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal ...

. In the ensuing struggle, the burglar stabs the other man. The next day, the burglar, an out-of-work carpenter, is arrested at a café while spending lavishly on wine. He is put on trial and found guilty. While the burglar is being held in prison, he sees a series of flashbacks on his cell wall, depicting him as an honest workman with a happy home life but he soon begins to drink heavily. Becoming a burglar, he descends further into crime, finally committing a murder. As the day of execution arrives, the executioners cut his hair off and a priest performs an

expiation Atonement, atoning, or making amends is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ...

. The burglar is led to the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

and is executed.

Cast

* Jean Liézer as the murderer

Production

''Histoire d'un crime'' is stylistically innovative in its use of superimposition of images. The story was of a man condemned to death, awaiting execution with his crimes appearing on his cell wall. The film is also an early example of flashbacks as a film device.:The rise of French cinema."
''brevestoriadelcinema''. Retrieved: 31 December 2016. The realism that was portrayed led to the film being stopped before the final execution scene to allow women and children to leave the theatre. Later, French authorities censored the film and required that the scene be entirely removed.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Austin, Guy.''Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996. . * Doane, Mary Ann. ''The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, Contingency, the Archive''. Boston:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2002. , * Fairservice, Don. ''Film Editing: History, Theory and Practice: Looking at the Invisible''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002. . * Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier. ''French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present''. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors'', Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. . * Schwartz, Vanessa R. ''Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-siècle Paris''. Berkeley, California:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 1999. .

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0000358 1901 films French silent short films French black-and-white films French crime films 1900s crime films Films directed by Ferdinand Zecca