La Nuit Fantastique

Friday, July 13, 2012 | 9:15 pm
Film Independent at LACMA
French Film Fridays | 1942/b&w/91 min.
|
Scr: Louis Chavance, Maurice Henry, Henri Jeanson, Marcel L'Herbier; dir; Marcel L’Herbier; w/ Fernand Gravey, MIcheline Presle, Saturnin Fabre, Charles Granval, Bernard Blier.

Denis is a student working nights in the teeming and cavernous Les Halles marketplace. One evening when he falls asleep, a vision of a young woman in a gauzy white dress enters his mind. As he tries to pursue her through the mists and mirages of Paris after hours, he begins to lose sight of what is dream and what is reality. Featuring the first-ever screenplay by Louis Chavance (Le Corbeau), Marcel L’Herbier’s expressionistic nocturne was pure escapism for French audiences living under the Occupation while also paying tribute to the country’s legacy of cinematic magic from Méliès to Epstein to L’Herbier contemporary, Jean Cocteau. One of the most adventurous and avant-garde commercial filmmakers of the French silent era, L’Herbier is less known for his sound films though La Nuit Fantastique was a favorite of André Bazin.

Bing Theater | FAQs | Imported 35mm print!

Included with admission to Beauty and the Beast. $5 admission for this film only. Call 323 857-6010 or purchase online.