Terra de Fogo

Filmed in both French and Italian versions; the French director Marcel L'Herbier was specialized in melodramas and "terre de feu" is no exception .The Italian lead (Tito Schipa) was unknown to the French audience; the other way round for the rest of the cast , in their vast majority,from France :Mireille Balin got top bill ,but she has only two scenes in the movie and her role is insignificant.

After a promising part ,where real life extends the opera ,in the wings then the court , the rest is routine:the opera singer is sent to a penal colony , then tries to find his daughter -who may or may not be his- and to resume his career .

One scene recalls the great director L'herbier was able to be : one of the convicts dies of a bad fever and his funeral takes place in a gloomy church in a cave :faces are tired,marked, in this twilight :suddenly the former singer breaks into an "Ave Maria" and some sunshine breaks through.