French postcard, no. 153. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: “Les jolies jambes de Mistinguett” (Mistinguett’s pretty legs). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Spanish collector card (minicard) by Reclam Films, no. 1. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913), presented in Spain as La Sirena. Mistinguett's co-actors were Paul Capellani, Henri Collen, Cécile Guyon, and Henri Krauss (here next to her).
Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 2. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913).
Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 3. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett and Paul Capellani in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913).
A great flirt
La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913) is based on an 1881 novel and 1883 play of the same name, by the eccentric Romantic writer Jean Richepin. They also served as the model for a 1908 opera by Gabriel Dupont.Mistinguett stars as Fernande, the daughter of poor parents. On IMDb, there is a synopsis by Moving Picture World: "(Fernande) is very much dissatisfied with her lot in life and wants to get out where she can have some pleasure. She is a great flirt and has several men on the string. When the doctor (Henri Krauss) comes to the house she works her wiles on him to such an extent that he asks for her hand in marriage. Fernande accepts him but in her mind has no intention of giving up her other sweethearts. After her marriage, she continues to meet them with the result that he discovers her unfaithfulness. He looks into her private correspondence and finds proof that she has been utterly unfaithful. When he taxes her with it she does not deny it but tells him that she intends to continue the same way. He in a rage strikes her. Driven nearly insane he wanders round all night and on his return finds that she has gone away. He loses all trace of her and goes to a foreign country to try to forget her."
In the meantime, Fernande goes to Paris, where she sets up a little court of her own. Her admirers are many, among them Count Adolphe. He is so much taken with her charms that he decides to marry her. He writes to his grandfather telling him of his decision. Then he goes to Fernande with his proposal. She is rather taken aback as she had not intended to let him get that far in the toils. To avoid his attention she goes to a small town in Brittany where she finds life too slow for her temperament. Being one of that kinds of women who must have an admirer she flirts with a young fisherman. The fisherman, Marie-Pierre (Paul Capellani), is however built of different stuff than the men she has met in Paris and will not be satisfied to merely admire her from a distance. Despite his rough manners, or probably because of them and his immense size, he exerts a charm on Fernande that makes her lose her cool, calculating manner. She allows him to come to her home.
Marie-Pierre's mother has suspected for some time that all is not well with him and follows to learn what is the cause of his desertion of his own wife. Through the good offices of an old friend, she learns that Pierre is spending nearly all of his time at the home of Fernande. Going to the doctor she asks him to do what he can to get Pierre out of the clutches of the woman who is wrecking both their lives. The doctor goes to the villa and on entering finds that not only has Fernande been playing with Pierre, but that she has at the house of Count Adolphe, who has followed her from Paris. He also is astounded to find the woman in the case is Fernande, his own wife who had left his house the night he had struck her. He had no idea that he was located in the same town that she had chosen for her home.
He upbraids her but is met with a penitent air and an exhibition of those same charms that made him love her so long before. He falls victim a second time only to be laughed at and told that he is an old fool. Enraged he tells Pierre and the count who she really is. Pierre, overcome, falls in a faint striking his head and badly hurting himself. He is taken home and orders are given that he is to be kept absolutely quiet if he is to recover. Fernande decides to see him and goes to his home. She is told that it is impossible to see him, but insists. Then Pierre's mother takes a hand and the Siren meets one on whom she cannot work her charms.
Le Journal (7.11.1913), quoted by Henri Bousquet in the Catalogue Pathé 1913: "The old story of the evil femme fatale, an Eve figure causing suffering to decent, tormented men, is neither new nor very pleasant: at the end the mother kills the whore. Oh well. But this film does get under your skin. It can draw an audience – if the audience is willing – under its spell. The exterior shots and, above all, the photographic style are consistently fresh and strikingly beautiful, while the expressive physicality of the star is mesmerising. The passionate love scene with Marie-Pierre, for example, generates a physical empathy hardly ever felt in other films of the time. Mlle Mistinguett plays the role of La Glu with artistry and a profound truthfulness. Messieurs Capellani and Krauss distill from their roles a most moving passion and high dramatic pitch. The production, admirable in every way, in fact nearly turned into a real drama. For we all remember that Mlle Mistinguett, struck by the hammer which was to kill La Glu, fainted, in real life, from the shock; and then we see something that was not in the script: the horrified gesture of Krauss before the bloody figure of his friend at his feet, believing for a moment that she was really dead.”
Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 4. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913) with Henri Collen on the left.
Spanish collector card by Reclam Films, no. 6. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett in La Glu / The Siren (Albert Capellani, 1913). The man lying on the floor is Paul Capellani.
French collector cards by Pathé Frères, 1911. Photo: S.C.A.G.L. / Pathé Frères. Mistinguett and Juliette Clarens in the comedy Léocadie veut se faire mannequin (Pathé Frères, 1911).
Sources: Il Cinema Ritrovato, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb
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