The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 22 – Presenting Sacha Guitry

The Eclipse Viewer – CriterionCast

English - November 24, 2014 13:00 - 51.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 20 ratings
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Previous Episode: The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 21 – When Horror Came to Shochiku

Next Episode: The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 23 – Raymond Bernard

David and Trevor savor a sampling of the work of this prolific and consummate French auteur.

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor discuss Eclipse Series 22: Presenting Sacha Guitry, four urbane, sophisticated French comedies of the late 1930s.

About the films:

Sacha Guitry was once a household name. Something of a Gallic Noël Coward, this disarming, multitalented artist served up some of 1930s French cinema’s tastiest dishes. The son of a beloved theater actor, Guitry was devoted to the footlights, first turning to the silver screen only as a way of bringing his plays to a wider audience. His films were anything but stage-bound, however: often the director, writer, and star of his popular movies, Guitry brought a witty inventiveness to the cinema and deployed radical techniques with such aplomb and control that he’s considered one of the medium’s first complete auteurs. With these four films, American audiences can finally sample Guitry’s creative, comic confections.

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction/Background (00:00:01 – 00:20:05)

The Story of a Cheat (00:20:06 – 00:39:45)

The Pearls of the Crown (00:39:46 – 01:02:00)

Désiré (01:02:01 – 01:25:34)

Quadrille (01:25:35 – 01:41:09)

Conclusion (01:41:10 – 01:52:30)

Buy The Box Set On Amazon:

Episode Links:

Director Overview:

French Film Site bio by James Travers
Film Comment bio by Andrew Sarris
Wikipedia entry on Sacha Guitry
Criterion Cast review of La Poison by Scott Nye
246 quotes of Sacha Guitry (in French)
Death of Sacha Guitry (1957 newsreel footage) from British Pathé