The Assassination of the Duke of Guise

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908) (original French title: La Mort du duc de Guise; often referred to as L'Assassinat du duc de Guise) is a French historical film directed by Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, adapted by Henri Lavedan, and featuring actors of the Comédie Français and prominent set designers of the day. It is widely considered the first film to feature an original film score, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns specifically for the production.

Synopsis of the film
Lasting longer than was then usual, about 15 minutes, the film more or less accurately depicts the events of the day in 1588 when King Henri III (played by co-director Le Bargy) summoned his powerful rival, Duke Henri de Guise, to his chambers at the Château de Blois and had him brutally murdered. The film has its share of lurid thrills, and the pacing is quick throughout, with better acting than most films of the time, and staged in a somewhat theatrical manner.

Production
The movie contains the rudiments of the more elaborate narrative techniques of films to come. Although it consists of only nine shots, with theatrical rather than cinematic acting and staging, it presents enough elements of a story that it could be understood on its own. It does this through continuity of action and space. Leading up to and including the assassination, the camera follows the movements of the main character over five separate shots, through three separate rooms and back. Other elements were theatrical rather than filmic, such as sets with painted backdrops and the camera's single stationary position for each scene, reminiscent of a seat on the main floor, not far from the "stage."

Score
Director André Calmettes is credited with the idea of scoring the film, and Saint-Saëns was a logical choice for such a prestigious venture. At age 73, he was probably France's most celebrated composer, and he had extensive experience in theater music. The score integrates small-scale dramatic details within a large-scale musical form to a degree rarely equaled during the rest of the silent period. Information about how he approached the project is scarce and ambiguous. Bonnerot, his biographer, tells us that he worked out the music "scene by scene before the screen"; and that because of the approach of winter he left Paris before the film's première, leaving Fernand LeBorne to conduct the orchestra. Saint-Saëns had a piano reduction of the score, dedicated to LeBorne, published by Durand that year.

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise was released in the United States by Pathé Frères on February 17, 1909. There is no trace of a special premiere for the program. In Moving Picture World, Pathé simply announced the film as one of its current "dramatic" releases, at a length of 853 feet—considerably shorter than the version for which Saint-Saëns had composed his score. The company dropped the film from its listings five weeks later. There is no record that the score was even heard in America at that time. Neither the film nor the score was suited to the nickelodeon-centered American film industry in 1909, but it was nevertheless reviewed extensively over the next several weeks.