Madame Sans-Gêne

On September 4, 1924 this brief piece of information appeared in the French magazine Mon Ciné: "Gloria Swanson, who has just been vacationing in France, will soon come back to shoot a magnificent film here".

The play Madame Sans-Gêne, about a real life lady whose life was considerably romanticized, had already been adapted twice on the silver screen before Gloria Swanson decided to star in Léonce Perret's version in 1924. The superstar wanted to get away from Hollywood's frivolous roles in which she felt her talent was under-used and she was little else than a clothes horse.

The lavish production was filmed at the very places described in the play: the castle of Fontainebleau, La Malmaison, Compiègne, etc.

Charles de Rochefort, a French actor who was making a successful career in Hollywood (Ramses in the Ten Commandments) came back to France for that part (as Mon Ciné from October 9, 1924 states) and then turned to directing.
And the magazine keeps talking regularly about the production in its columns:
- October 30: a special brick-building was built as a dressing room for Swanson at the studios des Réservoirs in Joinville.
- November 27, 1924 : Swanson's salary revealed: 250,000 francs a week for a whole year.

- December 18, 1924 : a detailed cast is given. Marnay is listed as Duc de Rovigo, but by December 25, 1924 his role is now listed as Savary ("a last minute change") which isn't a change at all given the fact that the character is listed in the play as "Savary, Duc de Rovigo".
The names of the 4 laundresses are different from contemporary sources (either mixed up, mispelt...)
A Miss Delanoy is listed as Madame de Bulow unlike contemporary listings (Denise Lorys), a miss Mauroy for Toinon instead of J. Tisserand, Tisserand here is listed as Julie (Y. Delaître), Delettre is listed as Louise and a fourth one called L'arpète is played by Miss Job.
- January 8, 1925 sees the publication of two pictures of the set of the laundry, inside and outside.
- January 15, 1925 : the part of the Corso, secretary of Fouché is played by M. Morlas, who also acts as unit manager.
- January 22, 1925: On their way to the castle of Compiègne, the cast's bus was stopped by a donkey stuck on a temporary bridge over the river Oise (the real bridge had been destroyed during WWI). The men playing the various generals had to carry the beast on their backs to free the way.
- January 29, 1925 the cover of the magazine is a picture of Swanson and Rochefort and it says that the film is still being shot but soon finished. A full double page with many pictures of the exteriors at Compiègne.

Yet, on that very day, Gloria marries her interpreter Henri de la Falaise and aborts for fear of seeing her contract annulled on a moral clause. She then falls ill all through February. Her return to New York (scheduled for February 11) where the American premiere of the film is to take place keeps getting postponed for that reason but she finally embarks on the Paris on the third week of March.

Welcomed back in Los Angeles by Pickford and Fairbanks

- March 12, 1925 after a long gap, an article with pictures of Swanson shooting at the studio of Joinville. The scene is her meeting with Charles de Rochefort's character. On one of the picture, an actor has sunglasses on to shield his eyes from the powerful studio lights between takes.
- March 19, 1925: An article mentions that after shooting the exteriors at Compiègne and La Malmaison, Léonce Perret had trouble obtaining the permit to shoot at Fontainebleau. According to them it is because of the influence of an other director who had made a film there the year before. Gloria Swanson says in her autobiography that she managed to obtain the permit through her influent new husband.
- March 26, 1925: the magazine finally announces that the shoot is over

(probably three months after it actually did end) and the French release is announced for September. The article has behind the scene pictures of the scene where Gloria's character gives a party in honor of Queen Carolina and Princess Elisa. On the first picture, the hair stylist helps Gloria with her crown before the cameras roll.
- April 2, 1925: Henri Ménessier was production designer on this production and on Koenigsmark.

Two versions of the film were made. One for the USA released on April 17, 1925, and one for France, where it was finally got its gala premiere in December 15, 1925 at the Paris Opera.
According to Léonce Perret's interview for Cinémagazine in November 2, 1925, the scenes between Neipperg (Warwick Ward) and Swanson, and between him and Empress Marie Louise (Suzanne Bianchetti) were considered unimportant and excised in the American version, to the dismay of the star.
Although the film is now lost, a partial trailer is still extant:

Léonce Perret wanted to shot a sequel called "L'Aiglon" from Edmond Rostand's play, but Paramount judged that producing films in France was too expensive.


Make sure you check your attic for that 19 million franc production, it was Gloria Swanson's favorite of her movies.

That's all for today folks!

Read More