Americans love feats of strength and miracles: they are big children but they are also practical people and as such they do not rely on acrobats or providence to ask some to provide them with feats of strength and on the other the miracles which are essential for them to feel in good spirits and ready to respond to the high idea that the world has of them simply by following the upward march of their dollar.

It is the Cinema that they have entrusted with this care, the cinema that they have monopolized, monopolized, standardized; the cinema of which they will soon show us, if they have not already done so, the birth certificate proving that it is indeed an American invention.

But what’s the point of being ironic? American cinema has truly accomplished feats and miracles. Last year did not a director bring the entire Principality of Monaco to the shores of the Pacific with its Casino, its hotels and its restaurants that he needed for a film, rather than taking his troupe on a trip to the Mediterranean which would undoubtedly have cost him less than the reconstitution work he had to undertake but which would not have allowed him to work in such comfortable material conditions.

A competitor of this director has, this year, done better and, adopting Nicolet's motto "From stronger to stronger", has rebuilt, near Los Angeles, Paris as it was under the reign of the good King Louis XI. This formidable work was, this time, essential, since it involved making a film based on Victor Hugo's famous novel "Notre-Dame de Paris" and no trip could take a film troupe, even an American one, in 15th century Paris.

The work required to prepare this tape was considerable and lasted more than a year. Three hundred carpenters, 130 masons, modelers, roofers, sculptors, etc. worked for six months on the construction of the cathedral of planks and cement, 150 feet wide and 225 feet high, a whole series of streets and of alleys, the Court of Miracles and the Place de Grève. Electric lighting was provided by more than a hundred electricians and during the night shooting sessions, the electricity consumed would have been enough to provide lighting for the entire left bank of Paris.

Then we started to “rotate”. This new job alone lasted more than six months. Some scenes brought together more than 4,000 extras including a considerable number of riders.

The entire production of this film cost $1,500,000 and it is claimed that this film can rightly be billed as "the most expensive" in the world. When the tape was completed, it was provided with very specific insurance contracts which protected it from all risks and after being locked in a sealed safe, placed under the guard of police officers, it was shipped to New York .

There, “Notre-Dame de Paris” enjoyed great success. Screened in one of the largest cinemas on Broadway, this film attracted crowds for weeks. It has just arrived in France preceded by a huge advertisement and it has recently appeared in the program of one of the first Parisian palaces.

Will it experience the same success in France as in America? Will French spectators who know Victor Hugo a little better than those from America, in favor of the magnificence of the spectacle offered to them here and the costs that this spectacle represents, over the mutilations and modifications that the director of the film thought it necessary to subject the work of the great poet to bring it to American taste? It is impossible to answer this question right now, which is serious, because if “Notre-Dame de Paris” becomes a French success, there will be no French literary work that American cinematographers will not believe. allowed to modify according to their whim.

René JEANNE.