Max (Max Linder) and Renee (Gina Palerme) are newlyweds. Max leaves Renee for an hour to go to his club and spend some time with the boys. At the club, Count Maulette (Jean Toulout) is regaling his friends with the fact that his castle is haunted. He brags that the castle is so haunted that no one can spend even one hour in it without yelling for help. The count is willing to wager 1000 francs that no one will last.
Max decides to take the bet. The count says that it is currently 10PM. He tells Max to be at the castle at 11 and must remain locked in until midnight. He will be provided with a bell that he can use to summon help; however, if he uses the bell, he loses the bet.
Max is locked inside the castle. Right away strange things start to happen. He is assaulted by ghosts, monsters, wild animals and various other creatures. Max is tempted to push the bell but manages to keep his wits about himself. At least until he receives a frantic and terrifying phone call from his wife.
“Au Secours!” AKA “Help!” AKA “The Haunted House” was released in 1924 and was directed by Abel Gance. It is a 23-minute French comedy horror short. Some believe that the film was actually 40 minutes long, but a full copy has never surfaced.
The film is an interesting combination of styles with spitfire montages and just about every imaginatively strange thing going on. Most of the film is scary stuff that is happening in the castle itself and only to Max. The movie turns dark about 18 minutes into the film. I’d rather not spoil anything here but suffice it to say, something happens with Renee that crosses the line between black comedy and actual horror. The switch changes the entire tone of the film. The film switches again and ends on a jolly note that gave me a WTF moment.
Did I like the movie, no. Is it worth seeing, yes. Are these thoughts contradictory, yes but the cinematic aspects of the film overrode the flip flop plot, not to mention Linder’s amazing talent. It’s actually not the movie that I didn’t like but how it made me feel. Strange I know but that’s the only way I can describe it. Everything was fine when all the scary stuff was happening to Max, but when Renee ended up being terrorized; it changed the mood of the film. It wasn’t Max being pranked but someone he loved. It reminded me of Faust and how everyone around him was punished for his sin.
The film is the result of a bet between Gance and Linder that Gance, known for big spectacular films, couldn’t make a movie in three days. Gance accepted the bet and, like Count Maulette, won. Linder died in 1925 after a suicide pact with his wife Helene.