REVIEW: LA FIN DU MONDE
REVIEW: END OF THE WORLD
REVIEW: ABEL GANCE [ 1931 ] 90'
REVIEW: L'ECRAN D'ART
CAST: ABEL GANCE, VICTOR FRANKEN,
CAST: COLETTE DARFEUIL, SYLVIE GANCE
PERSONAL RATING:
CRITICAL RATING:
WTF-FILMOMETER: OFF ITS ROCKER

It was 1893 when French author/astronomer Camille Flammarion's future-history novel LA FIN DU MONDE (released in English at present under the title OMEGA: THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD) first hit the shelves. The story begins 400 years into the future with 25th century man being threatened by a comet on a collision course with Earth. Much fuss is made over how the world will end when the comet strikes. When the catastrophe does occur mankind inexplicably survives - this leads to the rise and fall of many civilizations and the eventual death of the Earth over the course of millions of years.

Coming between science fiction legends as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells and an obvious inspiration for Olaf Stapledon's better known future history novel LAST AND FIRST MEN (1930), Flammarion and his LA FIN DU MONDE have both, until recently, gone relatively unnoticed. Until Bison Book's reprinting of the title in 1999 only 2 English releases of the novel had ever been made.

At any rate, at least one person had taken note of Flammarion's novel. Rabid experimentalist Abel Gance adapted the basic premise of the impending comet collision and social unrest it caused into the screenplay for his 1931 film LA FIN DU MONDE, which has suffered much the same fate as its source material. Gance came into prominence in the post World War I world of silent film with the antiwar epic J'ACCUSE! (1919), which included location filming of battles fought towards the end of WWI. The film was cut considerably by American distributors to give the originally unbiased look at the horrors of war a marked political slant against the Germans as well as to give the film a happy ending (the original film ends with the lead character summoning the spirits of the war dead - played by real soldiers, many of whom died in battle shortly after the shooting was finished - to demand of the world the reasons for their sacrifice).

Gance brought his penchants for avante guarde film techniques full circle with his critically acclaimed NAPOLEON (1927). A monstrous 6 hours in running time, this seminal silent film most notably featured a conclusion that was projected in a three panel panorama - a precursor to the various scope formats that were to come. NAPOLEON was painstakingly restored and re-released (under Francis Ford Coppola) from 1979 to 1981 to much critical acclaim at a length of just under 4 hours. Kevin Brownlow's latest restoration of the film brings its running time even closer to that of the original - five and a half hours - but cannot as of yet be released in the United States due to rights issues surrounding the initial 1979-1981 re-release.

While many of his silent works are well known, Gance had trouble transitioning into sound film - none of his future works would ever rival the success of his silent epics. He continued to experiment extensively with the medium, however. The film to which the rest of this review is dedicated was touted by Gance to be the first French film to be entirely in sound. During its theatrical run it also featured an experimental stereo audio track during the various disastrous events depicted.

LA FIN DU MONDE (1931) is a seminal film in its own right. It predates George Pal's end-of-the-world epic WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (which shares many of the same social concerns but is far more religiously biased than Gance's film) by twenty years and the disaster craze of the seventies by twice that. Within it one can glimpse predictions of WWII as well as the European Union and United Nations. It was released in the United States in a butchered form as END OF THE WORLD (1934) with an exploitative re-release here under the title PARIS AFTER DARK (the re-release focused on the more risque elements of Gance's original film and was advertised as a skin flick).

LA FIN DU MONDE, proper, begins with a title card announcing it as the first French film to be filmed entirely with sound which is followed directly by a rather exciting opening credits sequence (much of which looks to have been filmed from a plane). Following this we are introduced to one of two protagonists in the film (Jean Novalic, played by Abel Gance himself) as he portrays Christ in a church production of the passion. Via various shots of the audience we are introduced to nearly all of the rest of the film's characters - Jean's brother, Martial (Victor Franken), his girlfriend Genevieve de Murcie (Colette Darfeuil), his mother, and the eternally greasy antagonist Schomburg.

It becomes clear in this opening sequence that, in spite of her devotion to Jean, Genevieve is very much on the mind of the rich Schomburg - a point that's important to the first three quarters of the film - even though he is already involved with the equally rich Isabelle. The play ends to much applause, and Jean retires to the powder room to clean up. Once back home Jean is informed by Martial that he's escaping the idiocy of the French government and the coming war by accepting a managing position in a new observatory in the south of France. We are informed that Jean has serious reservations about continuing his relationship with Genevieve due to the enormous distances between their two standards of living - he could never force her to live in the same impoverished conditions as himself. We also learn of one of Jean's beliefs - that it may take some great cataclysm to bring humanity together.

Meanwhile in the Murcie household Genevieve is caught by her father as she reads Jean's book LA ROYAUME DE LA TERRE (THE KINGDOME OF THE EARTH). Her father is entirely unhappy with her devotion to Jean due to his class status and tries, unsuccessfully, to convince her to get out of the relationship in lieu of one with someone of more acceptable financial status. She runs off, offended, just in time for Schomburg to tell the father that he very much likes the man's daughter. Her father is elated and Genevieve completely uninformed.

Genevieve rushes to meet Jean near his home in the slums of Paris. Here Jean informs her that their relationship cannot continue. Genevieve agrees, unwillingly, with Jean's wishes, but writes him a letter announcing her continued devotion to him and leaves it in his home. In the meantime, Jean has attempted to save a girl who was being abused by her drunken father. The mother and father both accuse Jean of being a pervert and a pedophile and the father eventually assaults him, leaving Jean unconscious on an empty city street.

Jean is discovered by a man and daughter who recognize him and take him back to his place. While the man sees to putting him in bed and calling a doctor the girl turns Genevieve's letter into a paper hat. At the observatory in the south of France Martial has sighted something he hadn't expected - a comet which seems to be headed in the direction of Earth. After confirming his calculations (and being informed of Jean's condition) he rushes home. We learn that Jean is going insane due to injury to his brain. Martial tells him about the comet - Jean, in turn, shows Martial to a collection of writings and recordings he has prepared for just such an occasion. They include plans for a universal government, amongst other things. Jean's hope is that, in expectation of this final catastrophe, the people of the Earth can give up their warmongering ways and come together to make the world a better place - even if only for a short while.

In LA FIN DU MONDE, Abel Gance is often accused of being too heavy handed with his religious (i.e.: Christian) messages. It is my opinion (and the opinion of two French majors - one a professor of such - to whom I screened this film for insight) that these accusations are misplaced. Much of the Christian imagery in the first half of the film is in relation to the character of Jean who is a Christ figure who sacrifices himself for the betterment of society. The reactions of other cultures and religions to the coming catastrophe are showcased in the final half of the film with a thoughtful montage to all the religions of the world appearing at the end of the film.

Much of this film focuses on Gance's own anti-war philosophies (as did his two versions of J'ACCUSE! and many of his other films) as well as his opinion of the class struggle in France at the time. The affluent orgy of the rich is shown in stark contrast to the drunken confusion of the poor and the general panic among the rest of the population of Earth. There is also commentary on the role of women in French society at the time - Genevieve is raped by Schomburg. Upon telling her father of this he responds that she must marry him to avoid tarnishing the family reputation. In addition to that Genevieve is treated as property by her father and Schomburg throughout the film - an ideal that Gance himself is quite obviously opposed to.

With this film Gance also predicts the second world war - a looming catastrophe embodied by the comet as well as a more literal war that is building in the film. He also foresaw the United Nations, only he provides them with a much more powerful position than they currently have. The climactic meeting between nations and the subsequent multinational announcements of their acceptance of the new Universal Constitution on the very eve of the comet's collision is wonderfully done. Gance obviously hoped that World War II could be avoided by diplomatic means.

From a technical standpoint LA FIN DU MONDE is a multifaceted animal. The special effects are as could be expected from a French science fiction/disaster epic from 1931 and generally serve the film well. The sound is primitive, naturally. While serviceable in most cases there are others where the recording is terribly done. In several cases music was overlayed in a desperate attempt to cover it up - sadly it only succeeds in completely masking the dialog. The editing of the film is also a mixed bag and looks slipshod more often than not. According to many sources, Gance had little to do with the finished film - his producers had him pulled from the project and recut LA FIN DU MONDE to their liking.

In spite of his purported removal from the project, Gance's experimental flair is very much present. There are a number of multi-layered shots and there are considerably more moving shots than one might find in other films from the same time. While these things may be taken for granted in this day and age, they were not at all the norm in the French film scene of 1931. Gance, even from his silent film days, was seen as a technilogical rebel and LA FIN DU MONDE definitely continues his trend towards more modern film making.

All technical issues aside, I feel the biggest problem most modern viewers will have with the film is the acting. While several actors show a more modern flair for the art form, much of what is on display is pure silent film theatrics. This lends some unintentional hilarity to many sequences in the film. At a time when silent films were on their way out and sound films were in their bare beginnings I am willing to forgive the film its (many) transgressions in regards to character performance.

All told, Gance's nearly forgotten disaster epic has quite a lot going for it. Unfortunately it has gone generally unseen for decades now, with only a few copies of the atrocious American cut of the film puttering about on this side of the Atlantic (the only 35mm of the original version of the film resides in an archive in Prague). Fortunately an uncut - or at least as close to uncut as presently exists - French print has made rounds on Italian television over the past few years. It shows the film in its original language with Italian subtitles - this is the print of the film I have made available on this site. For anyone interested in the origins of sound film, French culture in the 30's, Abel Gance, or just crazy science fiction disaster films I recommend this film. And be sure to watch for Leon Theremin, who makes a guest appearance with his... well... Theremin... just before the rich orgy towards the end of the film. I leave this one highly recommended in spite of its many obvious faults.