Germinal
About Germinal
Étienne Lantier, a mechanic, comes to the mining town of Montsou and lives with the Maheu family. The coal strike that follows is the one in Émile Zola's novel. Albert Capellani wrote and directed the film.
Cast & crew
More about Germinal
Released in France in December 1913. The United States saw it in 1914 as Germinal; or, The Toll of Labor. Henry Krauss, Auguste Mévisto, Sylvie, Jeanne Cheirel, and Paul Escoffier are billed. The English-language article gives the length as 140 minutes. A copy is on the Internet Archive as silent-germinal-or-the-toll-of-labor.
Themes
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The picture runs past two hours. The article calls it one of the first films made at that length.
- The American title adds The Toll of Labor.
- Krauss and Mévisto lead the miner household.
- Pathé is the company on the record, not Gaumont.
Scenes
- Lantier arrives in the mining village and takes a room with the Maheus.
Influenced by
- Émile Zola's Germinal (1885)
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-germinal-or-the-toll-of-labor)
