The film:

Filendouce est insaisissable is a successful variation on a theme which forms a cinematic trope that still has lost none of its charm today: cops chasing robbers, where, as always, it is the latter who capture the sympathy and identification of the audience. Someone who at first appears to be an ordinary bicycle thief almost right away displays remarkable gifts: he can make himself invisible, leave a doppelgänger behind him to confound his pursuers, climb walls and ford rivers in a stolen car. If a thief is by definition an element that disrupts the system of shared social rules, in this case he goes so far as to defy the laws of physics. Here the mad rhythms of “chase” films and the inventive anarchy of trick photography find a particularly happy synthesis.

The digital process: 

On 1 November 1912 Pathé, one of the world’s biggest film companies, launched its first home cinema system – a parlour projector for a family audience, curiously resembling a Singer sewing machine. Its advertising slogan ran: “KOK: Cinema in your own home! Joy for grown-ups! Happiness for children!”. The 28mm Cinématographe de Salon KOK projector was the first successor to the magic lantern, which had long been popular among the rich bourgeoisie and aristocratic families.

Filendouce est insaissable was digitized in 2017 through a partnership involving the film archives of Turin, Toulouse, and Limoges, starting with the films from the 28mm collection in Turin. Repair work and scanning in 2K were carried out by the Cinémathèque de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and image-enhancement and finalizing by the Cinémathèque de Toulouse. Our thanks go to the Gaumont Pathé Archives for their help in identifying the films.

Link Vimeo Cineteca MNC: https://vimeo.com/412229099

back

• Restorations
• Silent films
• Sound films

• Online collections