Femme dans la nuit

Femme dans la nuit

Regular price $2,500.00 Sale

[Possibly G. W. Pabst (director); Willy Haas (screenwriter); Alfred de Musset (source)]; Lili Damita, Werner Krause (actors). Une femme dans la nuit. [Paris]: Union Artistic Films (distributor); F. P. S. Films (production company), [circa 1927]. Original poster for the French release, possibly the alternate title of a lost G. W. Pabst film On ne bandine pas avec l'amour (primary French title) or Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe (German title). Designed by G. Elizabeth. Double grande affiche (63 X 94 inches; 1600 x 2385 mm.). Two sheets, restored and linen backed. The sheets are barely out of alignment; a couple tears laid down, including one with a tiny bit of loss in the upper-left scene; a few old wrinkles flattened out; touch of rubbing; faint discoloration along the folds, possibly with some minor touchups; a couple instances of minor fold separation; a few faint, tiny splashes visible in the lower-right margin. Presents as near fine.

Union Artistic Films distributed four films starring Lili Damita produced by F. P. S. Films during the 1927-1928 season, according to a two-page advertisement in the September 1927 issue of Cinegraphie. They were: Papillon d'or (Der goldene Schmetterling, 1926, directed by Michael Curtiz (IMDb ID: tt0016930)), La nuit nuptiale (The Queen Was in the Parlour, an English co-production based on a Noël Coward play, 1927, directed by Graham Cutts (tt0017900)), La danseuse de grenade (Die berühmte Frau, 1927, directed by Robert Wiene (tt0437864)) and possibly this one, under the title On ne joue pas avec l'amour (Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe, 1927, (tt0017116)). Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe is the only Lili Damita film we could identify produced by F. P. S. Films to co-star Werner Krauss. Using IMDb's collaborator search, the only additional entries are Pabst's Secrets of a Soul [Geheimnisse einer Seele], produced by Neumann-Filmproduktion, which starred Krauss and apparently featured Damita in an uncredited role, and a ghost entry for Une femme dans la nuit created using the minimal information available in this poster from the Heritage Auctions listing. We cannot say with certainty that any of the assumptions made in the course of this catalog description are accurate, and we still have a difficult time swallowing that Pabst, who would be fresh off Joyless Street, would not receive mention on the promotional material of any of his projects.

All that said, given the information available, Une femme dans la nuit is either a completely ignored and immediately forgotten prestige project featuring two popular actors, or was an alternate title from one of just two lost Pabst films. Either way, it's still one hell of a decorative piece. Last year, Heritage Auctions also sold a French grande (one sheet, half this size) for this film under the same title, with no additional release or production information. Deutsche Kinemathek's Lost Film database, ID 986. (#10012).