When a Film Was Narrated Live on the Radio for the First Time

It is a film that has left very little trace in history. Yet when it was released in 1929, it was presented as a major French superproduction and, above all, it benefited from a completely new kind of promotion. A young film company, Sic-Delta, pulled out all the stops to launch Quand l ombre descend, a silent film directed by Gennaro Dini. It starred actors such as Hélène Darly, André Nox, and Georges Melchior.

A major promotional campaign for the film

The promotional campaign relied on the newspaper L’Excelsior, which published pages of stills from the movie, and on an unprecedented radio campaign. For five days, the station Le Poste du Petit Parisien broadcast a program devoted to the film every evening at 8:45 p.m., hosted by Saint-Granier. On May 9, he spoke about the behind-the-scenes production of the film, and on May 10, 11, 12, and 14, the film’s leading actors were interviewed.

Georges Melchior and Hélène Darly in a scene from the film

The film live on Paris-PTT radio

And nothing on May 13 ? On the contrary that was the day of the campaign s main event. An evening reception was held in the salons of the Hôtel Lutetia in Paris, attended by the elite of the film press. Quand l’ombre descend was screened, and beginning at 9 p.m. the film was described live on Paris-PTT by one of radio’s great voices, Le Parleur inconnu (The Unknown Speaker), already famous under his real name, Edmond Dehorter.

At the time, this live presentation of the film’s main scenes was considered a world first and was expected to have a bright future. But sound cinema had already arrived and quickly relegated this innovation to obscurity. Film promotion in the media, however, is still very much with us today.

Released in 1929, Quand l ombre descend is a French silent film directed by Gennaro Dini, with a runtime of just over an hour. The story begins with a romantic wound: a wealthy painter, devastated after a painful affair with an actress, gradually descends into madness. His brother, trying to keep him afloat, accidentally runs over a penniless young woman, takes her in, and eventually falls in love with her. The tragedy begins when the newcomer turns out to be the actress s exact double, leading the painter, unable to tell them apart, to lash out violently at her. André Nox, Georges Melchior, and Hélène Darly play the leading roles, all filmed in black and white on French sets. It is therefore a fairly typical melodrama of its era, built around familiar themes of silent cinema: madness, doubles, and impossible love.