UW Cinematheque | Dans la nuit (1929)

A happy, newlywed laborer is disfigured after an explosion in the quarry where he is working and is forced to wear a mask. At the peak of his fame as an actor in silent cinema, Vanel (The Wages of Fear) stepped behind the camera and completed his only feature film as director. “Dans la nuit is a disturbing, surprising film in which [Vanel] demonstrates an incredible sense of framing and editing and a wild demented modernity” (Il Cinema Ritrovato Program Guide). Released and quickly withdrawn at the dawn of talkies, Dans la nuit is perhaps France’s last silent film. Unseen for nearly a century, Vanel’s gem has been restored by Institut Lumière and Éclair Classics. Live piano by David Drazin.