Le fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (1925) - full transcript

THE PHANTOM OF THE MOULIN ROUGE

One morning in Paris,
at the home of Julien Boissel...

a prominente figure in that
fair city's commercial life
...... George Vaultier.

An important business deal,
successfully completed had...

that morning formed the subject
of one of the chief news item.

And only one paper had seen fit
to criticise: the "Echo des Rues"...

-- the leading organ of
the Yellow Press.

Gautier, the man
behind the "Echo des Rues"
..... Jose Davert

... your Yvonne

For Yvonne Vincent
the morning's new held...

a special interest
- Sandra Milowanoff



Paul Vincent, her father.
Formerly a Minister od State...

his failing health and advancing
years had now deprived the country...

of the services of one
of the most brilliant leaders.

Treasuring the secret of her
promise to Julien Boissel -- ...

revelling in its romance,
as lovers love to do.

Georges Martine, a news reporter,
plentifully endowed...

with those qualities so
necessary to men of his calling.
..... Albert Prejean.

"Its quite all night: he knows
I'm coming: I'm a reporter
from the 'Echo des Rues'!"

"My dear fellow, don't you
understand? This is an
important appointment!"

"The 'Echo des Ruas',
Monsieur Boissel...

Can you give me any further
information about the deal?"

"No! - and when you get back,
please tell Gautier...

to keep my name out
of his detestable paper!"

"As you wish, monsieur, but I
would just like to ask..."



"I refuse to tell you nothing!...

Don't come here
worrying me again."

Later that day at the Vincent
home: a threatening cloud--

"Yes or no? Will you agree to
my marriage with your daughter?"

"I cannot dispose of my daughter
against her wish!"

"You promised me you would
persuade her - and a promise
made, should be kept!"

"I hardly need to remind you,
Vincent, of that affair
ten years ago...

Those documents signed by
you are still in my possession..."

"...and you would not like to
see them published?"

"What of yourself? You forget
you were concerned in it."

"That fact would not absolve
you, my dear Vincent!"

"It rests entirely with your
daughter. Persuade her -- ...

and I will hand over the papers
on the day we are married."

"It will be very difficult
- you must give me time."

The task which had so
often been deferred.

"Gautier has been here -
he wants to marry you."

"How absurd. You laughed at
the idea, I suppose?"

"My child, there is something
else you must know;...

something which has worried me
for many years."

"During my period of office
I was guilty of a grave political...

indiscretion which involved
the safety of State secrets."

"The matter was hushed up,
but Gautier, who was then one...

of my colleagues, holds
evidence of it to this day."

"He professes his love for you;
he wants you to be his wife...

Doubtless the social prestige
of our good name would be
a valuable asset to him."

"I cannot compel you, my child,...

but if you do not accept he will
publish the documents - and ruin us."

"Father, it is impossible!"

"There is someone I have already
promised to marry."

"Ask him to be good enough
to wait."

"We have kept our engagement
secret..."

"Remember, Yvonne, it is for
you to decide."

"If Gautier learns that you
have promised to marry Boissel...

he will not hesitate
to carry out his threat."

"We must have to think...

but I implore you
to do nothing to anger Gautier."

"You must, for the present,
keep away from Julien...

He must not know
- he would want to interfere."

"So you have scored another
success, Julien?"

"-- and I'm now looking forward
to my next - with you."

"I heard that Gautier was
here to-day."

"He came to see father - on
business, I believe."

"I cannot imagine your father
doing business with such a man -
does he come here often?"

"There is something troubling
you. What is wrong?"

"I want to speak to you - alone."

"I must ask you, Boissel, to cease
paying attention to my daughter."

"But why? What is your
objection?"

"My daughter is shortly
to be married."

"That is most unfortunate. I
had intended to ask for Yvonne's
hand."

"I have always
held you in high esteem...

but I have other plans
for Yvonne - I am sorry."

"Do not distress yourself, there
may yet be a way out."

At the end of the day which,
for Julien, had begun so well -
and yet had brought dismay.

Floundering in the wreckage
of his greatest ambition.

Then, in the midst
of his turmoil of heart...

came the voice
of his cousin. Jacqueline...
.....Madeleine Rodriquez

Jacqueline comes of the Restless
Age. Her most recent experiment...

was her divorce, but even in that
she had found no great measure
of satisfaction.

"I was wondering if you would
like to come with your little cousin...

to The Moulin Rouge. I have a
table for four, and I want one
to comlete the party."

"I hardly feel up to it, Jacqueline,
and besides, I am busy."

"More excuses! You are the most
unobliging cousin I have ever had."

But the idea came to Julien:
At the Moulin Rouge...

he might at least forget his sorrows
- Jacqueline was good company and -

"Well, if you think that of me,
I had better come along.

Don't wait, I'll meet you there
in an hour."

So Julen dressed and went to
the Palace of Forgetfulness...

where Laughter is the password -
where Gaiety and Buffoonery drives
the cares of the day away.

THE MOULIN ROUGE.

Martine, the president.
Still bent on getting
an interview with Julien.

But persistence can be
carried too far.

And when Julien had laid bare
his troubles. Jacqueline offers
some useless advice.

"Well, my dear Julien, the
sooner you forget her the sooner
will happiness return."

"The world is big enough.
You have many admirers...

- I could almost fall in love
with you myself."

"It is dull here. Let us go
and see the Russian Dancers
at the Annexe."

"Won't you come?"

"No - I prefer to stay here."

Striving blindly
to drive away despair...

- taunted by the mocking blare
of music and laughter around him.

Doutor Renault, an eminent
brain specialist and...

among other things,
a student of psychology.

Often he comes to the Moulin Rouge ---
watching; hearing; studiung
his fellow creatures at play ...

for him this was one of Life's Museum-
a veritable feast of study.

"If I may say so, your worried
face seems just a little out
of place - here."

"Oh! It is nothing - just a passing
through - business worries -"

"I have been watching you for
some time - will you let me make
a suggestion - ?"

A week passes, and
all Paris is startled by...

a strange sequence
of mysterious happenings.

Each day, some new sensation
is recorder creating a series...

of problems, which had, so far,
defied all efforts to solve them.

And at the offices of
the 'Echo des Rues' two more
surprises are revealed.

"Julien Boissel has been missing
for several days. His servant has
reported it to the police."

"Deal with that later. Go and get
something at The Moulin Rouge...

There was a burglary there
last night."

The latest outrage-perpetrated at
the Cloak Room of the Moulin Rouge...

where hats and cloaks
had literally walked off.

"I cannot say how it happened,
m'sieur. I was on duty here last
evening as usual..."

Julien's disappearance had brought
further anxiety to Yvonne.

And at Julien's home.

- Martine, the audacious -

-- decides to find out
for himself.

"Where did you come from?"

"About the first floor up, m'sieur."

"Many thanks for preserving
my hat - good morning!"

"Renault? Renault? Where
does he live?"

At the house of Doctor Renault.

"The doctor is not at home."

Meanwhile, the Vincent home
remains enshrouded in
a pall of gloom.

"Gautier is impatient for your
answer. I fear he will not delay
much longer..."

"...he is a hard man, but if you
could but appeal to him personally,
he may yet release us!"

"I may be able to persuade him.
I will call on him."

"My father has told me everything,
but I cannot believe that

you were serious in your threats.
I have come to ask you
for those papers."

"Then I understand that you
accept my conditions?"

"What's on in there -
a bull-fight?"

"Pardon me for intruding, but
this requires your immediate
attention."

Nightfall.... and at the
residence of Doctor Renault.

- Martine, with feline,
stealth...

emplyes a popular method
of house-breaking.

"That's better! Now perhaps you
will tell me what that means!"

"I am no murderer! That man
is not dead; he merely sleeps."

"I do not quite understand. Why
should he come here to sleep?"

"Let me explain. For many
years I have searched for someone...

who would allow me to make on
him a seemingly dangerous experiment...

which I hoped would result
in an epoch-making discovery..."

"One evening I met this man,
and at last I knew that my
great chance had come.

"I felt that I could mpose my
will on that man, who seemed to
have lost his..."

"...he was labouring under some
great trouble, and I proposed..."

to free him of his sorrows.
He accepted my suggestion...

came with me here, and
on that unhappy man I made
my first experiment..."

"...I succeeded in releasing
the spirit from its earthly bonds...

- I gave freedom unto the soul."

"Thus liberated, that soul kept
but little resemblance to its
earthly form..."

"...my subject had found new
happiness in that spiritual state...

So grateful was he that on the
next day he returned...

and asked me to repeat
the experiment..."

"...the experiment was then conducted
over a longer period of time...

His soul seemed to revel in
its freedom; going away...

coming back; yet always
at my command..."

"...invisible to all eyes,
save mine."

"But one day, after an
experiment particularly long...

I somehow seemed
to lose all control..."

"Come! I order you!
Back to your earthly state."

"To return to my earthly state
is to return to those earthly cares,
which I have so gladly shaken off."

"You are under my command!
Obey me!"

"Your command counts for
nothing, unless I agree to obey.

In my present form I am happy,
and in this form I choose to remain."

"It is he who is the author of
all these mysterious happenings...

which are troubling Paris."

"You know, now, that I have
not murdered him, but how...

shall I prove my innocence if
the body is found in my house?"

But the spirit of Julien, in
the joy of his new found freedem...

displays a selfish disregard
for the plight of his benefactor.

The Underground
Eccentric Bar.

Memories

At a house of sorrow,
where a woman weeps.

"She really loved me!"

"Father, I begin to fear that
Gautier is responsible for Julien's
disappearance."

"That may be so, but our danger
still remains. While he has...

those papers in his possession
we are at his mercy."

The following day.
The Law's untiring arm --

In which Martine, the pertinent
one, ventures to speak his mind.

"The Vincent papers, monsieur."

"Have you got them ready
for publication?"

"I have not! I refuse to handle
such dirty business! I am leaving!"

"And before I go, let me tell
you this: If it were not for your...

detestable paper and your ugly self,
Paris would be a beautiful city!"

DEAD - OR ASLEEP?
Mystery of Julien Boissel's "DEATH"

Pot-Mortem Examination
to be Held this Afternoon

In spite of the amazing assertions
made by Doctor Renault at the time...

of his arrest, it has now been
definitely established that
there is no possibility...

of life returning to the body.
Doctor Renault's story is...

"Why have you let them
take my body?"

"What power had I to
prevent them?"

"Are you aware that a post-mortem
examination is to take place
very shortly?"

"When the life is taken from that
body, how can I return to it?"

"You must solve that problem
yourself. I gave you happiness...

and in return you have brought
me ruin. Now you shall bring...

about your own salvation
- if you can!"

"You know that it is impossible;
that I must respond only to your
will!"

"Be warned! If you do not
save me -"

"Weak mortal! How easy it is
to turn that clever brain of yours
into an addled mess."

"Do what you will - you
cannot so easily destroy what
you have created!"

"Bats in the belfry!"

"Demand permission to make
one last experiment. Bring me...

to my earthly form, and you will
be free. Refuse, and I will continue...

to torment you so that
you will crave for death."

Frantic endeavours to regain
his earthly state...

-- Endeavours that were futile
in the absence of the Doctor.

In which the Devil gets
his dues.

"You again! How is it you
are not dead?"

"Then you still refuse?
Very well; tomorrow...

Paris shall learn something
more of her beloved Stateman!"

"Now it's my turn!"

"Yes, kill him, by all means, but
please hurry and get it over!"

"Yvonne, there is a gentleman
waiting to see you."

"Somebody wishes to speak
to you, m'sieur."

"Pardon me, I should just like
to have the story of your - er -
resurrection."

"For the 'Echo des Rues'
I will tell you nothing."

"I should have told you, I am no
longer with the 'Echo des Rues'."

"Well, I have no time for stories
now - I am going to be busy."

THE END