L'Argent (1928)

A Paris banker (Pierre Alcover) is the head of a failing bank. He sees an opportunity to rescue the bank from disaster by backing a pioneering aviator's (Henry Victor) transatlantic flight. He also sets his sight on the pilot's pretty wife (Marie Glory). Loosely based on the novel by Emile Zola and directed by Marcel L'Herbier (LE BONHEUR). The name of Marcel L'Herbier isn't much discussed in cineaste circles today but he was one of France's most prominent film directors in the 1920s. L'ARGENT, which is loosely based on the 1882 collapse of the Union Generale bank which precipitated France's plunge into a decade long recession, is about money (L'argent means money in French). How money corrupts, how money seduces and is quite timely today as it reflects our own financial crisis in 2008. L'Herbier tends to linger on his scenes longer than necessary. The film is over 2 1/2 hours and could easily have been shorn by 15 minutes. But it remains a riveting accomplishment and the art direction is breathtaking (courtesy of Andre Barsacq and Lazare Meerson). The transfer I saw had a superb underscore by Olivier Massot. With Brigitte Helm (METROPOLIS), Alfred Abel and Antonin Artaud.