Marcel L’Herbier’s L’INHUMAINE Screens at Film Forum on November 30th

On Sunday, November 30th, at 4:40pm, Marcel L’Herbier’s L’INHUMAINE (1924) screens at Film Forum, with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner. GME distributes L’INHUMAINE to North American academic institutions on a Blu-Ray published by Flicker Alley, which features a behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of L’Herbier’s film, a featurette chronicling the creation of the film’s original score, and a booklet consisting of rare on-set photographs and information about the film.

Acclaimed by eminent critic J. Hoberman as “a super-stylized amalgam of mad science, stodgy acting and elaborate sets,” and dubbed “a monster-piece of production design” by award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Schrader, L’INHUMAINE follows a femme fatale (played by opera singer Georgette Leblanc) who is courted by a series of lovers, including a young engineer (played by Jacque Catelain) who symbolizes the future and the miracle of science.

L’INHUMAINE was a passion project of L’Herbier’s, who for years had directed successful films for Gaumont studios before branching off to start his own production company, Cinegraphic. L’Herbier collaborated with a number of notable artists on L’INHUMAINE, including painter Fernand Léger, architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, glassmaker Rene Lalique, fashion designer Paul Poiret, sculptor Joseph Csaky, and tapestry-maker Jean Lurcat, all of whom contributed to the films distinctive and cutting-edge visual style. (GME distributes films by Léger in the collections CINÉMA DADA and MASTERWORKS OF AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE EXPERIMENTAL FILM 1920-1970).

From the inception of his career, L’Herbier fought for the recognition of film as a serious art form and of film craftsmen as creative forces essential to the visual design and impact of the moving image. L’INHUMAINE remains one of his crowning — and most influential — achievements, as well as a signature film from the apotheosis of the silent era.

In addition to L’INHUMAINE, GME also distributes L’Herbier’s films THE LATE MATHIAS PASCAL (1926) and L’ARGENT (1928) as Blu-Rays to the North American university market.

For inquires related to L’Herbier’s films, please email info@gartenbergmedia.com. To order Blu-Ray copies of L’Herbier’s L’INHUMAINE, THE LATE MATHIAS PASCAL, and/or L’ARGENT, please email sales@gartenbergmedia.com.