Synopsis
Henri Andréani's adaptation of the Biblical story of David and Goliath, starring Berthe Bovy starring as the young warrior.
1910 ‘David et Goliath’ Directed by Henri Andréani
Henri Andréani's adaptation of the Biblical story of David and Goliath, starring Berthe Bovy starring as the young warrior.
Straightforward adaptation of the Bible story with some decent hand-tinting. I was also aware of the theatrical convention where Peter Pan is played by a young girl, but not David. Interesting, if unspectacular.
Surely this must be one of the earliest renditions on film of such an amazing story. Berthe Bovy, from the Comédie-Francaise company, and one of the stars in L'Assassinat du duc de Guise (in which she played a page), is pretty much suited as the then-future king of Israel: boyish-looking, flat-chested and all around angelic, her David comes across as God's anointed one even if only because it seems he is in need of a real miracle to save his and everyone else's lives. It also helps that Bovy was clearly having fun with her role, thus imbuing it with an enthusiastic energy. It reminded me of Mia Farrow as Peter Pan --just a bit.
The sad part in all…
Pathé Frères production of the familiar tale. Features some very pretty handtinting with select parts of the frame different colours, but otherwise offers little of interest.
Short and fairly basic, but the director got considerable juice from framing the characters in such a way that David looked smaller and Goliath more huge.