The Lame Devil (film)
Encyclopedia
The Lame Devil is a 1948 French
black-and-white historical film written and directed by Sacha Guitry
. A biography of the titular French diplomat Talleyrand (1754–1838), it stars Guitry in the lead role. Originally forbidden by the French censorship and turned into a play, the film went on to be released into six languages.
and English poet Lord Byron.
The movie is often noted for its opening sequence: after showing the birthplace of Talleyrand as it became in then-contemporary 1948 Paris
, it moves to a bookstore window showcasing his main biographies, including a copy of Guitry's own Le Diable boiteux that creates a mise en abyme
.
The film then sketches Talleyrand through a dozen episodes and anecdotes, both from his public life as a politician and his private side as a womanizer. Guitry explained that he peppered the dialogues with "a very great number" of quotes from most historical figures depicted.
(1946–1958), post-war regulations mandated that a movie script be submitted for approval even before filming.
As explained by Guitry in 1948, his synopsis was originally rejected by the Board: they underlined various dialogues in the script as being liable to cause public outrage. Guitry scoffed that all of them were actual quotes he had lifted from Talleyrand, Napoleon, and other historical figures, but his film being in effect forbidden, he immediately adapted it into a play, Talleyrand (1948). He then leveraged the fact that his play had received success and caused no trouble to re-submit his script to the Board, who granted its license though "without any good grace".
(The Lame Devil), Finnish
(Rampa paholainen), Greek
(Pringips talleyrandos), Italian
(Il diavolo zoppo), and Portuguese
(Um Homem Diabólico).
Positive or negative, critics have often considered Guitry's movie to be as much a historical biography as a plea for himself or a self-defense. Because Guitry didn't stop writing and playing during the Nazi occupation of France, he had been accused of collaboration with the enemy and imprisoned two months in 1944 by a self-appointed militia; released by the new government and fully discharged in 1947, he had expressed regret at the absence of a formal trial. Thus, rehabilitating the controversial Talleyrand (often considered a traitor for serving five different regimes) was seen as Guitry also trying to rehabilitate himself and strike back at those who had criticised him: on the movie's release, both a negative review by author (in L'Ordre, 1948) and a positive one by author René Barjavel
(in France Hebdomadaire, 1948) commented on it from that standpoint. Various later reviews have discussed that aspect of the movie, from TV listings magazine Télérama
(1978) to author in Cahiers du cinéma
(1988), long after the events.
According to French stage director and stage historian in his 800-page monography Sacha Guitry. Cent ans de théâtre et d'esprit (1985), translated: "The time has come to do justice to this excellent film (very coldly received, of course, by the politicized press of the time), almost always fascinating, that rehabilitates a historical figure too often maligned and brings us back the great Sacha Guitry at the top of his game as an actor and director, if not author."
Other credits
Uncredited cast, alphabetically
Specifications
s Guitry, Sacha
(1948). Le Diable boiteux. Scènes de la vie de Talleyrand (play script), Paris: Éditions de l'Élan, Preface (text at Amis-Talleyrand.fr; also reprinted in some of his other books, including: Le Cinéma et Moi, 1977, Ramsay, p. 186–187) — Narrates the film's genesis and censorship.
Secondary source
s Savia, Roberto, ed. (online). "Le Diable boiteux" (via Archive.org), in Sacha Guitry, l'ironie d'un Maître, un Maître de l'ironie (website), at RobySavia.chez.com — Film data, compilation of 6 critics from 1948 to 1988.
Tertiary source
s
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
black-and-white historical film written and directed by Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
. A biography of the titular French diplomat Talleyrand (1754–1838), it stars Guitry in the lead role. Originally forbidden by the French censorship and turned into a play, the film went on to be released into six languages.
Description
The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king AsmodeusAsmodeus
Asmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
and English poet Lord Byron.
The movie is often noted for its opening sequence: after showing the birthplace of Talleyrand as it became in then-contemporary 1948 Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, it moves to a bookstore window showcasing his main biographies, including a copy of Guitry's own Le Diable boiteux that creates a mise en abyme
Mise en abyme
Mise en abyme is a term originally from the French and means "placed into abyss".The commonplace usage of this phrase is describing the visual experience of standing between two mirrors, seeing an infinite reproduction of one's image, but it has several other meanings in the realm of the creative...
.
The film then sketches Talleyrand through a dozen episodes and anecdotes, both from his public life as a politician and his private side as a womanizer. Guitry explained that he peppered the dialogues with "a very great number" of quotes from most historical figures depicted.
Production
Under French law, a film has to be presented to the Censorship Board () in order to obtain a French film-license . During the French Fourth RepublicFrench Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
(1946–1958), post-war regulations mandated that a movie script be submitted for approval even before filming.
As explained by Guitry in 1948, his synopsis was originally rejected by the Board: they underlined various dialogues in the script as being liable to cause public outrage. Guitry scoffed that all of them were actual quotes he had lifted from Talleyrand, Napoleon, and other historical figures, but his film being in effect forbidden, he immediately adapted it into a play, Talleyrand (1948). He then leveraged the fact that his play had received success and caused no trouble to re-submit his script to the Board, who granted its license though "without any good grace".
Reception
Le Diable boiteux was originally released on 29 September 1948 in two theaters (the Marignan and the Marivaux) in Paris, France. It has since been released (dubbed or subtitled) into at least 5 other languages, being alphabetically: EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(The Lame Devil), Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
(Rampa paholainen), Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(Pringips talleyrandos), Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(Il diavolo zoppo), and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
(Um Homem Diabólico).
Positive or negative, critics have often considered Guitry's movie to be as much a historical biography as a plea for himself or a self-defense. Because Guitry didn't stop writing and playing during the Nazi occupation of France, he had been accused of collaboration with the enemy and imprisoned two months in 1944 by a self-appointed militia; released by the new government and fully discharged in 1947, he had expressed regret at the absence of a formal trial. Thus, rehabilitating the controversial Talleyrand (often considered a traitor for serving five different regimes) was seen as Guitry also trying to rehabilitate himself and strike back at those who had criticised him: on the movie's release, both a negative review by author (in L'Ordre, 1948) and a positive one by author René Barjavel
René Barjavel
René Barjavel was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern France...
(in France Hebdomadaire, 1948) commented on it from that standpoint. Various later reviews have discussed that aspect of the movie, from TV listings magazine Télérama
Télérama
Télérama is a weekly French magazine owned by Le Monde S.A. Its primary contents are television and radio listings, though the magazine also prints film, theatre, music and book reviews, as well as cover stories and feature articles of cultural interest. The name is a contraction of its earlier...
(1978) to author in Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du cinéma
Cahiers du Cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs — Objectif 49 and...
(1988), long after the events.
According to French stage director and stage historian in his 800-page monography Sacha Guitry. Cent ans de théâtre et d'esprit (1985), translated: "The time has come to do justice to this excellent film (very coldly received, of course, by the politicized press of the time), almost always fascinating, that rehabilitates a historical figure too often maligned and brings us back the great Sacha Guitry at the top of his game as an actor and director, if not author."
Credits
Main credits- Director: Sacha GuitrySacha GuitryAlexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
- Script, adaptation, dialogues: Sacha GuitrySacha GuitryAlexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
(after his play Talleyrand, 1948) - Cinematography : Nicolas Toporkoff
- Music: Louis BeydtsLouis BeydtsLouis Beydts was a French composer, music critic and theatre director, born 29 June 1895 in Bordeaux and died on 15 August 1953 at Caudéran in Gironde.-Life and career:...
- Production manager:
Other credits
- Assistant directors: , Jeanne Etiévant
- Editing: Jeannette Berton
- Film sets:
- Cameraman: Marcel Franchi
- Sound:
- Production company: Union Cinématographique Lyonnaise (UCIL)
- Distributor: Compagnie Parisienne de Location de Films (CPLF) and GaumontGaumont Film CompanyGaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
Cast
Main cast, in credits order- Sacha GuitrySacha GuitryAlexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
as Talleyrand as Madame GrandCatherine GrandCatherine Noele Grand was the mistress and later the wife of French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the first Prime Minister of France. From their marriage in 1802 until her death she was Catherine Noele Grand de Talleyrand-Périgord, Princesse de Bénévent...
(Talleyrand's wife) as Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
(and one lackey) - Henry LaverneHenry LaverneHenry Laverne was a French stage and film actor; Laverne was also a comedian and humorist for a decade, as well as a singer on occasion...
(billed "Henry-Laverne") as Louis XVIII of FranceLouis XVIII of FranceLouis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
(and one lackey) as Charles X of FranceCharles X of FranceCharles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
(and one lackey) (billed "Philippe-Richard") as Louis Philippe I (and one lackey) as Count of Montrond - Robert DartoisRobert DartoisRobert Dartois was a French actor. In 1948 he starred in the film The Lame Devil under Sacha Guitry.-External links:...
as Count of RémusatCharles de RémusatCharles François Marie, Comte de Rémusat , was a French politician and writer.-Biography:He was born in Paris. His father, Auguste Laurent, Comte de Rémusat, of a good family of Toulouse, was chamberlain to Napoleon Bonaparte, but acquiesced in the restoration and became prefect first of Haute...
as Duchess of Dino as General CaulaincourtArmand Augustin Louis de CaulaincourtArmand-Augustin-Louis, marquis de Caulaincourt, 1st Duc de Vicence was a French general and diplomat.-Biography:...
as Marie-Thérèse Champignon (the female conspirator) as Duke of San Carlos as Prince of Metternich - Jean DebucourtJean DebucourtJean Debucourt was a French film actor. He appeared in 104 films between 1920 and 1958.-Selected filmography:* The Fall of the House of Usher * Mayerling * Devil in the Flesh...
as Baron of HumboldtWilhelm von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt was a German philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of Humboldt Universität. He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice...
as Baron NesselrodeKarl NesselrodeBaltic-German Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, also known as Charles de Nesselrode, was a Russian diplomat and a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance...
(later Count) as Lord CastelreaghRobert Stewart, Viscount CastlereaghRobert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, PC, PC , usually known as Lord CastlereaghThe name Castlereagh derives from the baronies of Castlereagh and Ards, in which the manors of Newtownards and Comber were located... - André Randall (billed "Randall") as Lord Grey
- Howard VernonHoward VernonHoward Vernon was a Swiss actor.Vernon was born Mario Lippert to a Swiss father and an American mother and was fluent in German, English, and French...
as Lord Palmerston as General Lafayette - Maurice SchutzMaurice SchutzMaurice Schutz was a French film actor.He starred in some 91 films between 1918 and 1952.-Filmography:Selected films include:* Quatre-vingt-treize * Au-delà des lois humaines...
as VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state... - José Torres (billed "José TorrèsJosé TorresJosé Torres , was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1965, he defeated Willie Pastrano to win the WBC and WBA light heavyweight championships...
") as Don Juan d'Azcona - Pauline CartonPauline CartonPauline Carton was a French film actress. She appeared in over 170 films between 1912 and 1970.-Selected filmography:* Le p'tit Parigot * The Blood of a Poet * High and Low...
as the female chiromancer as Don Basilio (in The Barber of Seville) - Jean PiatJean PiatJean Piat is a French actor and writer.-Life:Piat was born in Lannoy, Nord. He enlisted in the Comédie-Française on 1 September 1947, and became a member on 1 January 1953. He left the Comédie-Française on 31 December 1972, and became an honorary member the following day...
as Figaro (in The Barber of Seville) as Dr. Bartolo (in The Barber of Seville)
Uncredited cast, alphabetically
- Renée Bouzy as (unspecified)
- Georges Bréhat as (unspecified)
- Jean-Claude Briet as a lackey
- Anne Campion as Pauline de DinoPauline de Talleyrand-PérigordJoséphine Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord , by her marriage marquise de Castellane, was a French noblewoman.The third legitimate child of the duke and duchess of Dino, Dorothea von Biron and her husband Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord, she is often thought to have in fact been fathered by...
(Talleyrand's great-niece) - Daniel CeccaldiDaniel CeccaldiDaniel Ceccaldi was a French actor.He was born in Meaux, Seine-et-Marne, France. The mild-mannered Daniel Ceccaldi is famous as Claude Jade's father Lucien Darbon in François Truffaut's movies Stolen Kisses and Bed & Board.Note: Christine refers to him twice as "Lucien", not papa, indicating...
as (unspecified) - Jane Daury as a Spanish woman as (unspecified) as a cop
- Philippe Derevel as (unspecified) as Almaviva (in The Barber of Seville) as Rosine as abbot DupanloupFélix DupanloupFélix Antoine Philibert Dupanloup was a French ecclesiastic.-Biography:He was born at Saint-Félix, in Haute-Savoie. In his earliest years he was confided to the care of his brother, a priest in the diocese of Chambéry. In 1810 he was sent to a pensionnat ecclésiastique at Paris...
as Princess of Chalais as the lady's companion - Robert HosseinRobert HosseinRobert Hossein is a French film actor of Azeri origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute...
as a guest dressed in white - Pierre Lecocq as Count RoedererPierre Louis RoedererComte Pierre Louis Roederer was a French politician, economist, and historian, politically active in the era of the French Revolution and First French Republic...
as Prince of AsturiasPrince of AsturiasPrince of Asturias is the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish throne. It was also the title under the earlier Kingdom of Castile. The current Prince of Asturias is Felipe, son of King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofía...
(later Ferdinand VII of Spain) - Simone Logeart as (unspecified)
- Sophie Mallet as the maid as a lackey as Marquis de la Tour de Bournac as Prince of Polignac as Dr. CruveilhierJean CruveilhierJean Cruveilhier was a French anatomist and pathologist.In 1816 he earned his doctorate in Paris, where in 1825 he succeeded Pierre Augustin Béclard as professor of anatomy...
Release
Release- Original title: Le Diable boiteux
- Genre: historical film
- Country of origin: FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- Language: FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
- Released: 29 September 19481948 in FranceSee also:1947 in France,other events of 1948,1949 in France.----Events from the year 1948 in France.-Events:*17 March - Treaty of Brussels, is signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, aimed mainly at defending against possible German rearmament.*5 September -...
(France), 1948 (World)
Specifications
- Runtime: 125 minutes
- Photography: black-and-whiteBlack-and-whiteBlack-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
- Film: 35 mm35 mm film35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
- Image ratio: 1.37:1
- Sound mix: monoMonauralMonaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
Sources
Primary sourcePrimary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
s Guitry, Sacha
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
(1948). Le Diable boiteux. Scènes de la vie de Talleyrand (play script), Paris: Éditions de l'Élan, Preface (text at Amis-Talleyrand.fr; also reprinted in some of his other books, including: Le Cinéma et Moi, 1977, Ramsay, p. 186–187) — Narrates the film's genesis and censorship.
Secondary source
Secondary source
In scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. A secondary source contrasts with a primary source, which is an original source of the information being discussed; a primary source can be a person with direct...
s Savia, Roberto, ed. (online). "Le Diable boiteux" (via Archive.org), in Sacha Guitry, l'ironie d'un Maître, un Maître de l'ironie (website), at RobySavia.chez.com — Film data, compilation of 6 critics from 1948 to 1988.
Tertiary source
Tertiary source
In scholarship, a tertiary source is a term used to describe a work which is chiefly a selection or compilation of other primary and secondary sources. The distinction between a secondary and tertiary source is relative, whereas the difference between primary and secondary sources is more absolute...
s
- BFI. (as Le Diable Boiteux) — UK title.
- DVDT. The Lame Devil at DVD Toile (as Le Diable Boiteux) — Complements to credits, cast, release.
- IMDB. — Most credits, cast, release.
External links
- The Lame Devil at TF1TF1TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
(poster, stills) (as Le Diable Boiteux) - The Lame Devil at DailymotionDailymotionDailymotion is a video sharing service website, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement, Paris, France. According to Comscore, Dailymotion is the second largest video site in the world after YouTube....
(1-minute excerpt)