Croissant Revisited

In February, EFSP paid attention to the French editor Croissant and its beautiful series of coloured postcards for early films Pathé Frères and Gaumont. Croissant published more interesting postcards with a link to the early cinema. My partner in crime, Ivo Blom collected this series of hand-coloured portrait postcards of French actors, who often appeared both in the theatre and in the cinema. The photographers were Henri Manuel and later Paul Boyer.

Constant Coquelin

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the first act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the first act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the second act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the third act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the third act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Constant Coquelin in the fourth act of the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1897).

Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841-1909), known as Coquelin aîné (Coquelin the Elder), was a French actor, who was known as one of the greatest theatrical figures of the age. He entered the Comédie-Française in 1860, became sociétaire there in 1864, left in 1887 to go on European and American tours, and returned as a Pensionnaire between 1890 and 1892. Despite the strict rules of the Comédie not play afterwards on other stages, Coquelin had a triumph in 1897 with Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and would play it many times. In 1900, when he was almost sixty, Coquelin toured in America with Sarah Bernhardt and appeared on Broadway's Garden Theatre in a production of 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (Bernhardt played Roxane). On their return to France, he continued with his old colleague to appear in 'L'Aiglon', at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt. For his booming voice and his lyrical and fiery temperament, Rostand wrote 'Chantecler', but the actor died in 1909 before it could be performed by him. The only film of Coquelin senior was an early sound film shot by the Lumiere brothers operator Felix Mesguich in 1900, though some sources state Clement Maurice as the responsible one. It was a scene from Edmond Rostand's duel scene from 'Cyrano de Bergerac', a role Coquelin sr. had created in 1897. The film was shown at the Phono-Cinema-Theatre in Paris during the famous 1900 Exposition. After the exposition closed, Mesguich took the films on a three-month tour all over Europe. In 1930, the film was found back, together with early sound films. In 1952 it was inserted in the film Cinema parlant 1900.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3523. Photo: Henri Manuel. Caption: Silvain de la Comédie Française.

Eugène Sylvain or Eugène Silvain (1851-1930), also known as Sylvain and Silvain, was a prominent French stage actor, though he is best remembered as the evil bishop Cauchon in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928). He entered the Comédie Française in 1878, became a Sociétaire in 1883, a Doyen between 1916 and 1928, and he left the company in 1928.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3523. Photo: Henri Manuel. Caption: Leloir de la Comédie Française.

Louis Leloir a.k.a. Leloir (1860-1909), originally Louis Pierre Sallot, was a French actor, and a Sociétaire of the Comédie-Française between 1889 and 1909. Parallel to his stage career, he was appointed teacher at the Conservatoire de musique et déclamation in 1894, and vice-president of the Société des artistes dramatiques in 1897. Because of his courageous behaviour during the 1900 fire at the Comédie-Française, he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur the same year. When he died in 1909, he was a board member of the Comédie Française and one of its regular stage directors. Little is known about Leloir's involvement in the cinema. He may have written the script for the Film d'Art production Louis XI (André Calmettes, 1910), starring Emile Dehelly, while he may have made the poster for the Film d'Art production Un Duel sous Richelieu (André Calmettes, 1908), starring Henry Krauss.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3523. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Caption: Jacques Fenoux de la Comédie Française.

Jacques Fenoux entered the Comédie-Française in 1895, became a Sociétaire in 1906, retired in 1924, and became a Sociétaire Honoraire in 1925. As the site of the Comédie states: "Fenoux was the type of a conscientious member, able to move effortlessly from one job to another, from small to large parts. He was appointed honorary member in 1925 but continued to play until his last days. He barely disappeared two weeks after having last interpreted Bazile, from 'The Barber of Seville'." As far is known, his only film performance was in Jacques de Féraudy's Molière, sa vie, son oeuvre (1922), in which actors of the Comédie-Française can be seen rehearsing plays by Molière.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3523. Photo: Henri Manuel, Paris. Caption: Truffier de la Comédie Française.

Jules Truffier (1856-1943) was a respected actor of the Comédie-Française. As far as known, he didn't act in a film, but as a teacher at the Conservatoire (from 1906 onward) he trained future screen actors. Jules Truffier's father, who had acted before starting in commerce, and was befriended with the actors Got and Delaunay, let his son study at the Parisian Conservatoire from 1873. Truffier jr. entered the Comédie-Française in 1875, became a Sociétaire there in 1888, retired in 1913, and in 1922 became a Sociétaire Honoraire. All in all, he played some 150 parts in an almost 40 years time span. In 1914, he quit acting in 'Maître Favilla', an adaptation by himself of a piece by George Sand, and in the same year he became manager of the Études classiques de la Comédie-Française, so the staging of the classic repertory by the Comédie. This he did until 1918/1919. Among his pupils at the Conservatoire, where he taught between 1906 and 1929, were Berthe Bovy, Pierre Dux, and Pierre Blanchar.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3523. Photo: H. Manuel. Albert Lambert as Orestes.

Albert Lambert (1865-1941), aka Albert Lambert fils, was a French stage and screen actor, who was for a long time part of the Comédie-Française. He also played in several early French Film d’Art films, first of all in L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise (1908).


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3524. Photo Henri Manuel, Paris. Caption: Mme. Kolb de la Comédie Française.

Thérèse Kolb (1856-1935) was a reputed French stage actress, who also had a career in French silent cinema. Born Marie-Thérèse Kolb in Altkirch (Alsace, Haut-Rhin), she won the first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris and began to act at the Théâtre de l'Odéon with Coquelin the Elder and Sarah Bernhardt, whom she followed on a tour around the United States in 1882. Kolb entered the Comédie-Française in 1898, before becoming the 338th member in 1904. She was named an honorary member in 1923. While she had one occasional first role in 1912 in Le Fils prodigue by Camille de Morlhon, from the late 1910s Kolb started a steady second career in acting in French silent cinema. In 1921-1922, she was Mme Bicard in four Le Bouif comedies with Tramel, directed by Henri Pouctal and Louis Osmont, while she also had major parts in L'ami Fritz (René Hervil, 1920), Blanchette (Hervil, 1921), Yasmina (André Hugon, 1927), L'île d'amour (Berthe Dagmar, Jean Durand, 1929), L'appassionata (André Liabel, Léon Mathot, 1929), and Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard (André Berthomieu, 1929). In 1935 Thérèse Kolb died in Levallois-Perret (Seine) and she was buried in the Altkirch cemetery. She was the mother of Jean Kolb.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3609. Photo: Henri Manuel. Caption: M. Constant Coquelin.

Sarah Bernhardt

French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3690. Photo: Paul Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt in the play 'L'Aiglon' (1900) by Edmond Rostand.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3690. Photo: Paul Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt in the play 'L'Aiglon' (1900) by Edmond Rostand.


French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3690. Photo: Paul Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt in the play 'L'Aiglon' (1900) by Edmond Rostand.

French vedette Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) has been referred to as 'the most famous actress in the history of the world'. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning her the nickname 'The Divine Sarah'. Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s and was soon high in demand in both Americas too. And she was one of the first film stars. What a woman!

Sources: Comédie-Française (French), Filmographie Le Film d'Art by Eric Le Roy (French), Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

And please, check out our earlier post on Croissant.

Sarah Bernhardt

French vedette Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) has been referred to as 'the most famous actress in the history of the world'. She made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon highly in demand in both Americas too. 'The Divine Sarah' was also one of the first film stars. What a woman!


French postcard by Raphael Tuck & Fils, Editeurs, Paris, Serie 203. Sent by mail in 1903. Caption: Sarah Bernhardt in Phèdre. Bernhardt played the title role in Jean Racine's Phèdre for the first time in 1874. She retook the part in 1899 when Bernhardt took over the former Théâtre des Nations on the Place du Châtelet. The Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt opened on 21 January with Victorien Sardou's La Tosca in which Bernhardt played the title role, one of her most admired parts. This was followed by a revival of Phèdre on 24 February.


French postcard. Photo: Downey. Publicity still for the play Le Passant, by François Coppée. In 1869, after her command performance for Napoleon III as as the Florentine minstrel Zanetto (in travesty) in Coppée’s Le Passant, Sarah Bernhardt was on the verge of stardom.


French postcard. Photo: Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt debuted in Alexandre Dumas fils's play La Dame aux Camélias in 1880. It became one of her most beloved and most performed plays. In 1911 Bernhardt would act in a silent film version as well, directed by André Calmettes and Henri Pouctal. This postcard is from the early 20th century. The card depicts the dead Marguerite Gauthier, deplored by her lover Armand Duval.


French postcard. Photo: Downey. Publicity still for the stage production of Maurice Maeterlinck's play Pelléas et Melisande/Pelléas and Melisande in 1904.


French postcard. Photo: H. Manuel. Sarah Bernhardt as Soeur Therese in the play La Vierge d'Avila composed by Reynaldo Hahn and written by Catulle Mendes. 1906 performance at Theatre Sarah-Bernhardt.

The life of a courtesan

Sarah Bernhardt was born in 1844 in Paris as Henriette-Rosine Bernard. Her mother was the Dutch-born Julie Bernardt and her father was unknown. Julie was a courtesan, known by the name Youle. Julie had five daughters, including a twin who died in infancy in 1843. Henriette-Rosine changed her first name and added an 'h' to her surname. Her birth records were lost in a fire in 1871. To prove French citizenship - necessary for Légion d'honneur eligibility - she created false birth records, in which she was the daughter of 'Judith van Hard' and 'Édouard Bernardt' from Le Havre, in later stories either a law student, accountant, naval cadet or naval officer.

When Sarah was young her mother sent her to Grandchamp, an Augustine convent school near Versailles. In 1860 she began attending the Conservatoire de musique et de déclamation in Paris and eventually became a student at the Comédie Française where she would have her acting debut in 1862 in the title role of Jean Racine's Iphigénie to lacklustre reviews. Her time there was short-lived; she was asked to resign after slapping another actress across the face for shoving her younger sister during a birthday celebration for Molière.

Bernhardt decided to leave France, and soon ended up in Belgium, where she became the mistress of Henri, Prince de Ligne, and gave birth to their son, Maurice, in 1864. After Maurice's birth, the Prince proposed marriage, but his family forbade it and persuaded Bernhardt to refuse and end their relationship. She resumed the life of a courtesan to which her mother had introduced her at a young age, and made considerable amounts of money during that period (1862–1865).

Bernhardt then reverted to the theatre, securing a contract at the Théâtre de L’Odéon where she began performing in 1866. Her most famous performance there was her travesty performance as the Florentine minstrel in François Coppée's Le Passant (1869). With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War performances were stopped and Bernhardt converted the theatre into a makeshift hospital where she took care of the soldiers wounded on the battlefield. In 1872, she left the Odéon and returned to the Comédie-Française. One of her remarkable successes there was in the title role of Voltaire's Zaïre (1874).


French postcard by Neurdein Frères, Photo-Edit., no. 25. Photo: Nadar. Bernhardt as Empress Theodora in Victorien Sardou’s Theodora (1884).


French postcard by Eclair, no. 25. Photo: Nadar. Publicity still for the 1894 stage play Izéil by Eugène Morand and Armand Silvestre.


French postcard. Bernhardt in the title role of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (1899).


French postcard. Photo: publicity still for a 1900 production of the stage play Cyrano de Bergerac (1900) by Edmond Rostand, in which Bernhardt played the role of Roxane.


French postcard by Raphael Tuck et Fils Ltd Editeurs, Paris, Serie 569. Publicity still for the stage production of Theroigne de Mericourt (1902), a play by Paul Hervieu. Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt (1762–1817) was a singer, orator and organiser in the French Revolution. She is known both for her portrayal in the French Revolutionary press and for her subsequent mental breakdown and institutionalisation.

The Divine Sarah

During the 1870s, Sarah Bernhardt made her fame on the European stages and was soon in demand all over the world. Her first tour of the United States and Canada took place in 1880-1881 (157 performances in 31 cities). In 1887 she toured South America. In 1888 she toured Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Norway and Russia. In 1891-1892 she took part in a worldwide tour which included much of Europe, Russia, North & South America, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Samoa. Another tour of America took place in 1896. 1901 saw her 6th American Tour, 1906 her 7th (her first 'Farewell Tour'), 1910 her 8th, and 1913-1914 her 9th.

She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the title 'The Divine Sarah'. However, she also participated in scandalous productions such as John Wesley De Kay's Judas. In this play Mary Magdalene, who at first became a lover of Pontius Pilate, then of Judas Iscariot (played by Bernhardt!), got involved with Jesus. Judas, after realising that Mary Magdalene had given herself to Jesus, decided to betray his friend to the Romans. The play performed in New York’s Globe Theatre for only one night in December 1910 before it was banned there, as well as in Boston and Philadelphia.

In between her international tours, Sarah Bernhardt took over the lease of the Théâtre de la Renaissance, which she ran as producer-director-star from 1893 to 1899. She coached many young women in the art of acting. In 1899 Bernhardt took over the former Théâtre des Nations on the Place du Châtelet, renaming it the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. She opened it in the title role in Victorien Sardou's La Tosca and many of her famous roles, such as her Hamlet in travesty, followed.

Bernhardt continued to direct the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt until her death, when her son Maurice took over. After his death in 1928, the theatre retained the name Sarah Bernhardt until the Occupation by the Germans in World War II, when the name was changed to Théâtre de la Cité because of Bernhardt's Jewish ancestry.


British postcard by Rotary Photo Co., London, no. 228C.


British postcard by Rotary Photo Co., London, no. 228A. Sent by mail in 1905. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.


French postcard by S.I.P., Paris. Photo: Reutlinger.


Tinted, vintage postcard. Collection: phheww.


German postcard, no. 2329. It was sent from Leipzig, Germany to Laibach, Austria (now Ljubljana, Slovenia) on 31 October 1905. The author used the Greek alphabet. We deciphered the text and discovered that he wrote in German and signed as Hugo Reizenbach. The addressee was one Christl Kantz, maybe his secret girlfriend?

Sarah by Reutlinger

The beautiful postcards above are probably the best known images of Sarah Bernhardt. On each postcard she wears the same outfit and a huge crown-like diadem. This 'Lilies' diadem for was designed by poster designer Alphonse Mucha and created by the famous French jewelry designer René Lalique.

The photographs for the postcards were made by the Reutlinger Studio in Paris, which took photos of the rich and famous between 1850 and 1937. The Reutlinger studio was founded in 1850 by German-born photographer Charles Reutlinger. In 1880, he passed the studio on to his brother Emile, who ran the studio until 1890. In 1883, Emile’s son Léopold came to Paris from Callao, Peru, where he grew up. Léopold Reutlinger took over in 1890, and he developed a very successful postcard business.

P.K. Hobbs at Everything Vintage: "Léopold introduced a very distinctive style of merging photographic images with art nouveau fantasy overlays. He added to that process exceptionally well-done hand tinting. The Reutlinger Studio became known for their unusual art nouveau styles of postcard designs, especially for portraits of actresses. These postcards were not cheaply produced, nor were they cheaply sold. This part of his business was very successful and sought-after, as thousands of his art nouveau postcards were produced."

The photos for the postcards above were publicity stills for the stage play La princesse Lointaine by Edmond Rostand. Sarah Bernhardt wore the diadem for the first time in this play at the Renaissance Theatre in Paris in 1895.


French postcard. Sent by mail in 1906. Photo: Boyer, Paris. Publicity still for the play Théroigne de Méricourt, by M. Paul Hervieu, presented at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in 1902.




French postcards, both sent by mail in 1908. Photos: publicity stills for her stage play L'aiglon.


French postcard. Photo: Sarah Bernhardt in L'Aiglon. L'Aiglon is a play in six acts by Edmond Rostand based on the life of Napoleon II, who was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and his second wife, Empress Marie Louise. The title of the play comes from a nickname for Napoleon II, the French word for 'eaglet' (a young eagle). The title role was created by Sarah Bernhardt in the play's premiere on 15 March 1900 at the Théàtre Sarah Bernhardt. Rostand had written L'Aiglon specifically for Bernhardt, and it became one of her signature roles.


French postcard by F.C. & Cie, no. 125. Photo: Manuel. Sarah Bernhardt as Soeur Therese in La Vierge d'Avila composed by Reynaldo Hahn and written by Catulle Mendes. 1906.

A sporadic love-hate affair with cinema

Sarah Bernhardt had a sporadic love-hate affair with the early cinema. In 1900, she made her first film, the two-minute long Le Duel d'Hamlet/Hamlet (Clément Maurice, 1900). Technically, this was not a silent film, as it had an accompanying Edison cylinder with sound effects.

After her film début Bernhardt declared she detested the medium. However, in the following decades she consented to star in eight motion pictures and two biographical films. The latter included Sarah Bernhardt à Belle-Isle/Sarah Bernhardt at Home (1912), a film about her daily life with her family and friends.

In 1908 she featured in her second film, based on Victorien Sardou's Tosca, condensed to a one-reel film. Upon seeing La Tosca (1909), she reportedly recoiled in horror, demanding that the negative be destroyed.

Nevertheless, soon followed her leading role in the Film d'Art production La dame aux camélias/Lady of the Camelias (Louis Mercanton, 1911), released in the US as Camille. It was a two-reel condensation of the play with handsome Dutch actor Lou Tellegen as Armand Duval. The film was a critical and popular success, and it helped to give the cinema artistic dignity.

The handsome Dutch-born Lou Tellegen was again Bernhardt's co-star in her next film, Les amours de la reine Élisabeth/Queen Elisabeth (Henri Desfontaines, Louis Mercanton, 1912), filmed in Britain. The massive receipts from this film's distribution in the US provided Adolph Zukor with the funds to found Paramount.

Bernhardt, at 69, was offered a fortune to make films with other companies, but she stayed with Film d'Art. She next appeared in Adrienne Lecouvreur (Henri Desfontaines, Louis Mercanton, 1913) with Max Maxudian and again Lou Tellegen.


French postcard by S.I.P., 72e Serie, no. 7.


French postcard by S.I.P., series 72, no. 8.


French postcard by BJC, Paris. Sent by mail in 1904.


French postcard. Sarah Bernhardt and colleague Benoît-Constant Coquelin, known as Coquelin aîné (Coquelin the Eldest), known as one of the greatest theatrical figures of the age. In 1900 Bernahardt and Coquelin toured together in America. They appeared on Broadway's Garden Theatre in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac (Coquelin as Cyrano and Bernhardt as Roxane). On their return to France they appear together in L'Aiglon, at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt.


French postcard by PMM. Photo: Nadar, Paris. Sent by mail in 1901.

War propaganda films

During the First World War, Sarah Bernhardt played in two war propaganda films, the intimate drama Jeanne Doré (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1915) and the highly patriotic Mères françaises/Mothers of France (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917).

In between these two films, she had lost a leg. In 1905, while performing in Victorien Sardou's La Tosca in Teatro Lírico do Rio de Janeiro, Bernhardt injured her right knee when jumping off the parapet in the final scene. The leg never healed properly. By 1915, gangrene set in and her entire right leg was amputated; she was required to use a wheelchair for several months.

Bernhardt continued her career, sometimes without using a wooden prosthetic limb, which she did not like. She carried out a successful tour of America in 1917 (her 10th), and on returning to France she played in her own productions almost continuously until her death. Later successes included Daniel (1920), La Gloire (1921), and Régine Armand (1922). The amputation was not apparent during her performances, which were done with the use of the artificial limb. The charm of her voice, which had altered little with age, ensured her triumphs.

Her last film was La Voyante/The Fortune Teller (Leon Abrams, Louis Mercanton, 1923) with Harry Baur. By then she was 79 and already mortally ill. Her hotel room was turned into a studio. But her failing health halted production and she died before the film was completed. Her stand-in had to complete her scenes, with her back to the camera.

Sarah Bernhardt passed away on 26 March 1923 in Paris. The cause of death was uraemia (urea in the blood) following after kidney failure. From 1882 till 1898 (his death), she had been married to the Greek diplomat Ambroise Aristide Damala, who was 12 years younger than his wife. Newspaper reports stated she died "peacefully, without suffering, in the arms of her son". She is believed to have been 79 years old. Sarah Bernhardt is buried at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.


German postcard, no. 7845.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Louise Lagrange as Marie in the French war propaganda film Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Tell your son I will remain his fiancee.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Gabriel Signoret as Guinot in the French war propaganda film Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Who is near me?


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Gabriel Signoret as Guinot in the French war propaganda film Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: The schoolmaster returns to his class, which henceforth will be his reason to live.


Sequence from Les amours de la reine Élisabeth/Queen Elisabeth (1912). Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex (Lou Tellegen) has been executed. Queen Elizabeth (Sarah Bernhardt) visits his corpse, and mourns for him. Source: swagner99 (YouTube).

Sources: Daniel Yates (IMDb), P.K. Hobbs (Everything Vintage), Victor (Wonderings), Wikipedia and IMDb. Film historian Victoria Duckett wrote an excellent book about how Sarah Bernhardt leapt to the early silver screen, Seeing Sarah Bernhardt - Performance and Silent Film. Highly recommended!

Mères françaises (1917)

Today's film special is about the French war propaganda film Mères françaises/French Mothers (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) with a series of postcards from Italy. Star of the film was the legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was 72 at the time, but had not lost her immense star power yet.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: From every corner of France men departed to do their own duty.


Italian postcard by IPA CT, no. 5747. Photo: publicity still for Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: The bells are hammering.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Mme D'Urbex is head nurse in a hospital in Reims.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: I am Mme D'Urbex, I confirm my son was here.

The Summer of 1914

Mères françaises/French Mothers (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) is a melodrama situated in the summer of 1914, just before the outburst of the 'great war', World War I. French mother Madame Jeanne d'Urbex (Sarah Bernhardt) lives with her husband, a retired army officer (George Deneubourg), and son Robert (Jean Angelo) at their château in the village of Mercurey in eastern France.

Jeanne is the godmother of Marie Lebroux (Louise Lagrange), the daughter of a couple who manage a farm on their estate with their son Victor and an adopted orphan, Noret (Jean Signoret).

Father Lebroux shares the pacifist views of the village schoolmaster, Guinot (Gabriel Signoret), and is equally certain that another war is impossible. But when Austro-Hungary declares war on Serbia, it isn't long before the whole of Europe is drawn into a long and bloody conflict.

With their sons, husbands and brothers away fighting for the glory of France, the womenfolk must do their duty back home - gathering in the harvest and tending to the war wounded. Madame d'Urbex is employed as a matron at Reims hospital when she learns that her son has been gravely wounded.

Determined to see him, she risks her own life by venturing close to the enemy lines, but Robert dies before she can reach him. Not long afterwards, she learns that her husband has also been killed in action.

When Guinot returns to his home village, he is blind and, out of a sense of duty, Marie feels bound to marry him. Realising that it is Noret she really loves, Guinot gives her up and urges her to marry Noret instead, insisting that the engagement takes place before Noret returns to the front. Guinot himself will return a - blinded - schoolmaster, beloved by the children and by Mme D'Urbex.


Italian postcard by IPA CT, no. 5742. Sarah Bernhardt in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: At night, at the appointment, Jeanne d'Urbex stood in front of the statue of her holy patroness.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Gabriel Signoret as Guinot in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Who is near me?


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex, Gabriel Signoret as Guinot and Louise Lagrange as Marie in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Sorrowful bethrothal.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Louise Lagrange as Marie in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: Tell your son I will remain his fiancée.

The most famous actress in the history of the world

Mères françaises/French Mothers (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917) was financed by the French War Ministry and intended primarily for the US market to show what World War I meant for Europe. There are many views of actual trenches, munition depots and infantry revetments. When Sarah Bernhardt plays her climactic scene standing before the statue of Joan of Arc before the Cathedral of Rheims, we can see the actual damage to the cathedral that was caused by German artillery fire.

James Travers at Le Film Guide: "as a propaganda film it is both surprisingly honest and remarkably effective. Instead of justifying the war, or even glorifying those who are actively caught up in its brutal carnage, it confines itself to the duty of the female sex, urging stoicism and resilience through a period of almost unimaginable personal anguish."

It was a vehicle for 'the most famous actress in the history of the world', French vedette Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923). 'The Divine Sarah' had made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and since then, she was also highly in demand in both Americas. Bernhardt became one of the first film stars and even at the age of 72, she starred in Mères Françaises.

A few years earlier, Sarah Bernhardt's right leg had to be amputated above the knee, after gangrene had set in. It was the result of an old injury. Wearing a long frock to conceal her amputation, she played the entire film by turns either sitting down or carefully standing near something to lean on. We never see her walking. Despite this handicap, Bernhardt put her own safety on risk during the shooting of the exterior scenes near Reims, within twenty kilometres of the enemy lines near the Marne.

Her male co-star was Gabriel Signoret (1878-1937) as the blind schoolmaster Guinot. Signoret played in some 85 films, mostly silent ones. In Mères Françaises his brother Jean Signoret also plays an important part as his rival in love, Noret.

The other co-star was Louise Lagrange (1898-1979), a French screen actress who had a fruitful career in French silent and sound cinema from the Pathé short Cendrillon (1907) onwards. In the early 1920s Lagrange played in the US opposite Rudolph Valentino, while in turn Ricardo Cortez and Ivan Petrovich where her partners in later 1920s French films. In 1933 she became the wife of film director Maurice Tourneur and quitted film acting, apart from just a few, small parts in postwar films.

Despite her excellent co-stars, reviewers think it was Sarah Bernhardt who carried the film. James Travers: "her vitality is still very much in evidence, and her charismatic presence redeems what would otherwise have been a dull and pedestrian wartime melodrama."


Italian postcard. Gabriel Signoret as the blind schoolmaster Guinot, Jean Signoret as Noret and Louise Lagrange as Marie in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: My dear friends, I cannot accept your sacrifice.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Gabriel Signoret as Guinot in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: The schoolmaster returns to his class, which henceforth will be his reason to live.


Italian postcard. Sarah Bernhardt as Mme D'Urbex and Gabriel Signoret as Guinot in Mères françaises (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917). Caption: The schoolmaster.


Scene from Mères françaises (1917). Source: Cinéma et Histoire (YouTube).

Source: James Travers (Le Film Guide) and IMDb.