"Rapt" (aka The Kidnapping) (1934) (Dimitri Kirsanoff)
Early talkie French/Swiss co-pro feature from MÉNILMONTANT (1926) auteur Dimitri Kirsanoff. The plot is a little hard to swallow at times, but the poetic photography, imagery and montage are the real reason to watch this. And there are some really beautiful and striking sequences. The music is rather bizarre though, as most of the time it seems rather distracting and unfittingly banal (although I guess this was the early days of scoring) only to abruptly switch to the avant-garde and downright abstract at times (especially in the amazing thunderstorm sequence!). It's all pretty fascinating and often times quite beautiful. Kirsanoff is definitely an impressionistic and cinematic poet.
1934 / 83mins. / French Language with English subtitles / B&W / France & Switzerland
Picture Quality: A (Source: AVI)
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