Jeanne Doré (1915)

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Sarah Bernhardt | René Hervil (Director) | Louis Mercanton (Director)

Rest of cast:

Raymond Bernard | Jeanne Costa | Suzanne Seylor | Jean-Marie de l’Isle | Madeleine Guitty | Tristan Bernard (Play) | Wladimir (Cinematographer)

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Audience Applauds Bernhardt

First showing of “Jeanne Doré” draws full house at Proctor's Twenty-third street theater.

The news that Sarah Bernhardt, in all probability, never will visit this country again increases the importance of her performance in Jeanne Doré, a picture in which she appeared shortly after the amputation of one leg. As the first of the Blue Bird Photoplays, this five-part offering, given its initial public showing at Proctor's Twenty-third street theater. New York, on January 6, should attract interested audiences in all parts of the country for many months to come. If there is never another Bernhardt picture, Jeanne Doré will stand as the last artistic accomplishment of the world's most famous actress. It will be preserved as the work of a woman, who, seventy-one years old and physically incapacitated, retained a spirit that would not be downed and a genius for emotional expression strong enough to surmount handicaps.

That many people are anxious to see Mme. Bernhardt in her latest picture was amply manifested by the audience that nearly filled Proctor's theater for the premiere showing. There were few vacant seats when the title of the production was flashed on the screen and the introductory appearance of the Di¬vine Sarah was recognized by generous applause. Her playing was followed with close attention throughout the five reels, and at the conclusion the audience again registered its approval by applauding.

An analysis of the merits and effects of the photoplay, Jeanne Doré, adapted from a stage work of the same name by Tristan Bernard, is unnecessary. According to American standards it reveals a few deficiencies, but in supplying Mme. Bernhardt with a character of strong sympathetic appeal the main purpose is served. Here is an instance where the player and not the play is most emphatically the thing. The theme is mother love, a mother love so intense that no amount of suffering, no ingratitude or coolness on the part of the loved one, serves to lessen its fervor. Mme. Bernhardt portrays a woman capable of any self-sacrifice, first for the worthless husband who gambles away his money and his wife's jewels; then for the son who inherits the wild traits of his father.

The story is so devised, with the series of tragedies all calculated to bring sorrow to the unselfish mother, that there is no break in the sympathetic appeal. And Mme. Bernhardt's acting brings out all the poignancy of a ruined life. She expresses much by quick, characteristic movements oi her hands, by instinctive gestures that never fail to convey a meaning, and in the more tragic moments of the story her facial expressions give a wonderful revelation of the feelings of the tortured mother. So great is the skill of the great tragedienne that an audience almost loses sight of the limitations imposed by physical infirmity. Most of her scenes are played while seated in a chair, or leaning against a convenient support, and on the few occasions that she does walk, her feeble steps are aided by other actors.

Possessing a cumulative emotional power, the picture reaches its most impressive moments in the tragic scenes preceding the execution of Jacques and in the actual execution, giving a quite startling view of a guillotine in operation. The company in support of Mme. Bernhardt is adequate, with the exception of a young woman who suggests little save emotional and physical coldness when the character demands the reverse.

An unexpected feature of the program which included the first showing of Jeanne Doré at Proctor's was the appearance of Florence Lawrence on the stage. She was introduced by Jack Edwards as a member of the Universal Company's feature organization and the audience expressed its hearty approval of her return to photoplays.

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Scene from Jeanne Doré (Blue Bird).

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1916