Les chansons ont leur destin
R: Louis Feuillade. P: Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont. Fr 1908

“Although Feuillade is remembered today as the granddaddy of suspense thrillers, during his prolific career he was an eclectic filmmaker who explored all possible genres. He made a great many short comedies — typically split reel things that ran less than 10 minutes apiece. This is one of the reasons his comedies aren’t as well remembered today — there’s a prejudice on the part of serious film critics in favor of feature-length films at the expense of what are considered lightweight shorts. The history of film is often told as the progress from shorts to theatrical features, and so any step that moves forward down that path is seen as being important and worthy, while steps that linger behind are seen as retrograde.  By this calculus, Feuillade’s comedies were backwards looking things, duly forgotten in favor of his feature-length crime thrillers. But some of Feuillade’s comedies survive today, and they offer a valuable insight into his filmmaking style, and sometimes they’re quite amusing.”
David Kalat
Streamline

>>> another Feuillade comedy on this site: Une dame vraiment bien