The Red Chrysanthemum
About The Red Chrysanthemum
Miss Suzie, played by Suzanne Grandais, is courted by two men in her salon. She will not choose between them, and sets a test: the man who brings the flower she prizes most will have her heart. Léonce Perret and Émile Keppens play the suitors. A passerby, André Luguet, crosses the game. The Giornate del Cinema Muto note on the film reads her challenge as a tease she does not mean to settle.
Cast & crew
More about The Red Chrysanthemum
Léonce Perret directed and wrote the short, and played the first suitor. Comptoir Ciné-Location distributed it. The Cinémathèque française dates the French release to February 16, 1912. It is the first film Perret made with Suzanne Grandais.
Themes
Making
Perret and Grandais began working together at the end of 1911 with this short. He directs, acts, and cuts back to her face more often than was usual in a 1912 comedy.
Reviews
Dominique Païni, in the 2003 AFRHC monograph on Perret edited by Bernard Bastide and Jean A. Gili, calls Perret the last of the Symbolists and reads this short through the language of flowers.
Technique
A surviving element is stencil-colored. The Pordenone copy, struck from 35mm, runs 13 minutes and carries French titles.
Preservation
Gaumont Pathé Archives holds a 35mm element. The Giornate del Cinema Muto screened a 13-minute stencil-color DCP from it in 2019, with French titles.
Notes
- The French title is Le Chrysanthème rouge. The 2019 Pordenone program also lists the English title Love's Floral Tribute.
- Grandais plays Miss Suzie. Perret is the first suitor, Émile Keppens the second, and André Luguet a passerby.
- In the opening, Grandais sits in her salon and smokes a cigarette while the two men wait.
- Gaumont Pathé Archives in Saint-Ouen holds the source element used for the 2019 DCP.
Scenes
- Miss Suzie smokes in her salon while the two suitors hang back.
- She tells them the man who brings her favorite flower will win her heart.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-le-chrysanthme-rouge)
