''Little Devil-May-Care'' (or '' The Devil in the Heart'') (French: ''Le Diable au cœur'') is a 1928 French-British silent drama film directed by

Marcel L'Herbier Marcel L'Herbier (; 23 April 1888 – 26 November 1979) was a French filmmaker who achieved prominence as an avant-garde theorist and imaginative practitioner with a series of silent films in the 1920s. His career as a director continued unti ...

and starring Betty Balfour, Jaque Catelain and Roger Karl.

Plot

In a small coastal town Ludivine, a fisherman's daughter, falls in love with Delphin, an orphaned boy who comes to live with them. But her father wants her to marry Lauderin, the lecherous manager of a local cabaret-bar.

Cast

* Betty Balfour as Ludivine Bucaille * Jaque Catelain as Delphin Leherg * Roger Karl as Bucaille, Ludivine's father * André Nox as Pierre Lauderin * Kissa Kouprine as Thania * Catherine Fonteney as Madame Bucaille, Ludivine's mother * Magda Aranyi as Lauderin's stepmother * Leo Da Costa as Gaston Lauderin * André Heuzé as André Bucaille * Auguste Picaude as Maurice Bucaille * Falcau as Lauderin's brother * Jane Pierson as a woman * Marie Glory as a young thief

Production

L'Herbier had originally made an agreement with the

Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont. Film production Gaumo ...

company to film Labiche's stage farce ''Un chapeau de paille d'Italie'' with the popular English actress Betty Balfour. When that project was delayed, the filming rights were ceded to

René Clair René Clair (; 11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette (), was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. H ...

who was also eager to adapt the work, and L'Herbier proceeded with an alternative adaptation of a novel by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus set in a Breton fishing community. Filming began, in November 1926, on location at

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Hon ...

, and then at the Studios de la Villette in Paris and the Victorine Studios in Nice, but the production was beset with problems. Soon after filming began several leading members of the cast became ill, including Balfour, and the production had to be halted for a time, incurring greater costs. When they had resumed, the actor Auguste Mévisto, playing Ludivine's father, suddenly died, and several scenes had to be refilmed with his replacement Roger Karl. Further difficulties were caused by the

panchromatic film A panchromatic emulsion is a type of photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, and produces a monochrome photograph—typically black and white. Most modern commercially available film is panchromatic, and the ...

which was being used for the first time in a French production, and technical inexperience with this filmstock produced a number of unforeseen problems. L'Herbier subsequently felt that, despite the film's appealing elements and the vivacious humour of Betty Balfour, the finished product lacked rigorous consistency. The film's sets were designed by

Claude Autant-Lara Claude Autant-Lara (; 5 August 1901 – 5 February 2000) was a French film director, screenwriter, set designer and costume designer who worked in films for over 50 years. He made films characterised by bourgeois Realism (arts), realism, anti- ...

, Lucien Aguettand, and Robert-Jules Garnier.

Preservation

The film has been restored by the CNC Archives françaises du film, and a DVD was released with the book ''Marcel L'Herbier: l'art du cinéma'' in 2007.Laurent Véray, ed. ''Marcel L'Herbier: l'art du cinéma''. Paris: Association française de recherche sur l'histoire du cinéma, 2007. The book also contains an essay on the film, by Éric Thouvenel, "Le Film fétiche: remarques sur une climatologie du cinéma d'après ''Le Diable au cœur'' (1926)", pp. 109-117.

References

External links

* {{Marcel L'Herbier 1928 drama films French drama films 1928 films Films directed by Marcel L'Herbier French silent feature films Films based on French novels Seafaring films Pathé films French black-and-white films Silent drama films Silent adventure films 1920s French films