Dans la Nuit (1929)

To maintain my record of writing reviews that no one reads about films that few have seen, I present this French silent which I was thrilled to discover.  It is the only movie that was written and directed by the actor Charles Vanel, who had perhaps the longest film career of any, appearing in pictures for some eighty years until his death in 1988.  He is probably best known outside France for his roles in "Wages of Fear" and "Les Diaboliques".  Here he takes the lead playing a newly-wed miner whose happiness is shattered when he is disfigured in an avoidable mining accident and who is forced to wear a mask (like the Phantom of the Opera) to conceal his hideous face, even from his beloved wife.  What was a happy marriage begins to come apart and the wife considers a new love.  However in a twist which has subsequently become a cliche in movie writing, we are granted a happy ending.  It's a pity that Vanel did not chose to direct again (other than one obscure 30s feature), as he shows here a definite flair for making characters real and an artist's eye for composition.  Even the intertitles are pretty.