La chienne / The Bitch (1931), On purge bebe / Baby’s Laxative (1931) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection
on June 18th, 2016 at 12:43
In 1931, with a handful of silent shorts and features under his belt, director Jean Renoir made a tentative transition to sound cinema with "On Purge Bebe", a broad comedy about an upper-class household put on edge by a constipated child. The 45-minute film isn’t that funny; and Renoir himself has said that he only took the job to prove to the bankers that he could deliver a profitable product. But in an interview on Criterion’s new Blu-ray of Renoir’s full-length 1931 film "La Chienne" (which also contains "On Purge Bebe" as a bonus feature), scholar Christopher Faulkner says the French master quickly realized the possibilities of sound, even while cranking out a thudding farce.
Based on a Georges De La Fouchardiere novel (adapted by Renoir himself), the film stars Michel Simon as Maurice, a middle-class sad-sack store-clerk with a shrewish wife and pie-in-the-sky aspirations to become a painter. One night, as Maurice is stumbling home from an office party, he comes across a pimp, Dede (Georges Flament) smacking around one of his prostitutes, Lulu (Janie Marese). After Maurice intervenes, Dede pulls Lulu aside and orders her to cozy up to this well-dressed dope, to see what she can squeeze out of him. Soon, the clerk is visiting the prostitute regularly and showering her with gifts — including his artwork, which Dede then sells for exorbitant prices at a local gallery, under Lulu’s name.
Once she makes it clear that she has no real interest in him besides as a cashbox, then things really fall apart...
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Michel Simon, Georges Flamant, Janie Marese
Country: France
Extras:
• Introduction to the film from 1961 by director Jean Renoir (2:45)
• New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner (25:24)
• New restoration of On purge bebe (1931), Renoir’s first sound film, also starring Michel Simon (52:02)
• Jean Renoir le patron: “Michel Simon” a ninety-five-minute 1967 French television program featuring a conversation between Renoir and Simon, directed by Jacques Rivette (1:35:13)
2 x DVD9 | NTSC 4:3 | 01:36:07 | 5.44 Gb + 7.22 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English
La.Chienne.1931.U.D1.part1.rar
La.Chienne.1931.U.D1.part2.rar
La.Chienne.1931.U.D2.part1.rar
La.Chienne.1931.U.D2.part2.rar
BD50 | 1080p AVC | 01:40:03 | 43.3 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part01.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part02.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part03.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part04.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part05.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part06.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part07.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part08.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part09.rar
La.Chienne.1931.BluRay.U.part10.rar
Thanks.