​Restored, forgotten serialized epic now on DVD

Several major cities have regular theatrical revivals of classic films made before the switch to sound technology, but, except for MSUM’s summer cinema series, silent films are difficult to find in this region without looking online for Blu-ray, DVD or streaming editions. This past spring, Flicker Alley released a three-disc DVD set of the little-known, but amazing and newly-restored French film “La Maison du Mystère” (“The House of Mystery”), an ambitious six-and-a-half-hour, 10-chapter melodrama of love, crime and retribution. In structure and content, it’s a film more than half a century ahead of its time.

Many have remarked that the film may be nominally a serial, but it is a far cry from the simple, clichéd, good versus evil, action-melodramas with cliffhanger endings usually associated with that form. It does have a fair share of action scenes, replete with romance, jealousy, murder, blackmail, wrongful imprisonment, escape, revenge, etc. It also often ends at a moment that leaves the audience anticipating the next episode. But this movie adaptation of a novel is more akin to the television miniseries that have become popular over the past 30 years, or the recent multi-episode, big-screen adaptations of popular novels like “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hunger Games” and “Harry Potter.”

Filmed during 1921-22 and released in 1923, the plot is an epic saga covering the fortunes and misfortunes of a well-to-do family over a period of two decades, from roughly 1898 through 1919, just after World War I. The plot has a number of parallels with the classic adventure “The Count of Monte Cristo,” among other stories of wrongful imprisonment and revenge. A factory owner’s romantic rival takes advantage of his hot temper to frame him for murder, causing him to be condemned to 20 years in a penal colony, while the rival attempts to gain the affections of the owner’s wife and young daughter. Meanwhile, a passing woodcutter and amateur photographer inadvertently catch the rival committing the murder on film, and they decide to blackmail him to guarantee a future for his son (a childhood playmate of the factory owner’s little girl). Eventually the protagonist escapes and returns in disguise to work in his own factory, so he can observe his wife and child in secret and gather evidence that will expose the real culprit.

Fine performances by the entire cast help keep the focus as much on the characters and emotions as on the action and the sometimes-convoluted plot. Noted Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine has one of the best roles of his career, playing the central character Julien Villandrit from a shy, naïve youth through hardened middle age, with plenty of opportunities to demonstrate his mastery of both physical gestures and facial makeup in various disguises. Prolific French actor Charles Vanel (best-remembered now for “Wages of Fear”) provides an appropriate blend of high villainy and understated, seething menace as Henri Corradin, Villandrit’s business partner and best friend since childhood, who becomes his secret enemy and manipulative rival in love shortly after the plot begins. Hélène Darly, about 22 at the time of filming, is convincing and often moving as Régine de Bettigny, the woman who comes between them as a teenager and remains the object of Corradin’s desires through middle age, by which time her daughter is about the same age she was when the film began. The daughter Christiane is played by two very talented child actresses plus a third actress as the film jumps forward in time by seven-year increments. Russian character actor and comedian Nicolas Koline shows his acting range with many memorable moments as the blackmailing woodcutter Rudeberg.

Although made in France, the film is largely the product of a group of leading Russian filmmakers who had fled Moscow after the revolution and either joined or set up studios in Europe. Especially impressive about “The House of Mystery” is its artistic cinematic style, with effective locations and sets, evocative use of lighting and brilliant use of camera compositions. The wedding sequence and some other scenes are staged in artful silhouette, and the film as a whole includes striking uses of moving camera, reflections, shadows, unusual angles and more. Editing, as well, increases involvement with cross-cutting between related scenes and periodic flashbacks.

The first episode takes a bit longer to get going as it sets up the characters, and later on, several sequences admittedly seem to be trying to milk all the emotion they can out of various situations. This drags out various portions of the film, but overall the action moves right along and rarely seems padded during its six-and-a-half hours. After the first chapter, it’s easy to be caught up in the story, to the point that one wants to keep watching rather than taking a break. The ten chapters are divided across three discs, with each set of three or four chapters being an easily-digestible segment of about two hours or so.

Flicker Alley’s video release has outstanding image quality, scanned in HD mostly from the original camera negatives. So far there is only one DVD version, rather than a Blu-ray edition, but the DVD transfer and encoding is exemplary and looks very sharp projected on a big screen. Several episodes are so clear that it’s frustrating not to have the extra resolution of a Blu-ray. However, others (especially the color tinted sequences) have a substantially grainier and contrastier appearance, which would look about the same on a Blu-ray as they do on DVD. Likewise, audio quality provides a fine reproduction of the excellent piano score by Neil Brand. Bonus features include an informative, illustrated, 12-page pamphlet enclosed in the box, and a photo gallery of production stills on the disc.

“THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY” on DVD – Movie: A- / Video: A- / Audio: A / Extras: C-