Le présent article porte sur la mise en scène des acteurs de Jean Renoir dans son premier film américain, Swamp Water (1941). Durant la fabrication de ce film, le cinéaste français s’est trouvé en désaccord avec son producteur Darryl F. Zanuck, sa méthode de travail artisanale se révélant incompatible avec celles employées par un studio fortement industrialisé. Dans ces conditions, comment le cinéaste a-t-il pu imprimer sa propre marque au film? Pour répondre à cette question, notre article se focalise sur la question de l’acteur qui fut l’un des sujets importants de discussion avec Zanuck. Avant d’analyser le jeu des acteurs, nous retraçons d’abord l’évolution de leurs négociations à travers des documents d’archives. Dès la distribution des rôles, Renoir refuse les stars déjà figées par leurs succès, et insiste sur les jeunes acteurs ≪encore un peu malléables≫. Ensuite, sur le plateau de toumage, accusant toujours la prédominance des vedettes, il tente de doter tous les personnages, les figurants y compris, d’une véritable personnalité. En dépit des difficultés affrontées, ses efforts sont bien visibles dans la gestuelle des acteurs, et surtout dans les gestes de la main. Ceux-ci, peu apparents, se répètent pourtant tout au long du film comme un élément unificateur, et c’est dans ces jeux de mains qu’existe ce qu’on peut appeler la touche de Renoir.

Thomas A. Edison’sMonkeyshines no. 1-3 (Monkeyshines) were taken by the cylinder Kinetograph (Edison’s motion picture camera). Although Monkeyshines are the only surviving example of Edison’s cylinder based motion picture, these production date and photographing method are still controversial. Fred Ott, one of the Edison’s employees, testified that he was one of the subjects before August 1889 and in photographing, a flash light was used. However, Gordon Hendricks questioned the validity of this testimony and concluded that Monkeyshines were photographed in November 1890. Hendricks’ conclusion had a huge influence on subsequent research on this period. On the other hand, in recent years, Paul Spehr reexamines the primary sources and he supports that testimony that Monkeyshines was taken in 1889, but he did not mention clearly the photographing method.

Edison proposed the idea of the cylinder Kinetograph using the flash light generated by the Leyden jar in his caveat (formal notice of a potentially patentable device) no. 116 during May, June, and July in 1889. Leyden jar has been used for instantaneous photography since the first success by Talbot in 1851, and this suggests that the idea of caveat no. 116 was practicable. In conclusion, it is most probable that Edison’s Monkeyshines was taken in 1889 and the flash light generated by the Leyden jar was used in photographing.

This study, as part of examining the important legacy that director Shinji Somai (1948-2001) left to film history, considers the theme of community and individual which he developed in his films of the 1980s. As pointed out in previous studies, many of Somai’s films feature helpless characters such as “orphans,” who have no protectors nor place to go. What this study focuses on is their making various gestures repeatedly, such as singing or dancing, to establish a place for themselves. In Somai’s films, those helpless characters are frequently found singing or dancing, especially in adverse circumstances. These actions also help them form a temporary community with others in the same circumstances. In Typhoon Club (1985), junior high school boys and girls happen to be shut up in their school building during a typhoon, which leads to a temporary group of boys and girls. The legacy that Somai has left to us is explored by examining these groups or communities in his films, that is, the “communities of orphans.”