Dr. Knock

Fernand Fabre and Iza Reyner

Before seeing Omar Sy in a recent adaptation, it was difficult to imagine another actor than Louis Jouvet in the role of Knock. And for good reason, not only had he created the role in the play by Jules Romains which he himself had staged (December 15, 1923 at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées), but he took on the role twice on-screen in 1933 and 1951!

A little-known fact is that the first film adaptation of the play is silent, and that it is not he who embodies the famous doctor. Knock, or the triumph of medicine is a comedy shot in 1925, by a veteran director, René Hervil, and new actors. Indeed, the main star has never been in a film before.

Author Jules Romains

The genesis

The director was announced on the project on August 15, 1924 in Cinémagazine. In this same article, however, is also announced the presence in the cast of Marcel Levesque, famous at the time for being a fetish actor of Louis Feuillade (who died the following year) and for being "Serpentin" in a series of popular films. He was to play Dr. Parpalaid but, in the end, was not part of the adventure. Yet it is this same René Hervil, according to Ciné-Miroir of August 1, 1925, that is filming the exteriors of The Flame in England. Busy guy!
From him, Jean Tulard says: "Associated with Mercanton, he will give some important films in the early days of cinema. Alone, he was only distinguished by his Knock where Fernand Fabre acted the Jouvet role." If the criticism highlights Knock, the man deserves better than that, and he leaves a better memory to the debutante Arletty who finds him "very knowledgeable in his profession". However, a few months after this film, he will direct Albert Préjean in Le bouif errant and will leave a horrible impression on the young star: "He was constantly shouting. He terrorized me. (...) Despite some qualities, [ he] was unbearable. He was a man who, when he said 'hello', gave the impression of saying 'f ...'. "

Director René Hervil

It seems in fact that only two members of the original cast of the play are included in the film: Irma Perrot in the role of Mme Rémy, the hotel owner, and Yza Reyner, the lady in black. But the other actors are not entirely unrelated to the case: René Lefèvre, who plays the valet, tells us in an interview on May 15, 1930 that it was the director who chose him when he saw him in the play.

René Lefèvre driving the car of Dr. Parpalaid (Léon Malavier) and his wife (Maryanne)

Mon Ciné of January 21, 1926 confirms that he "created the role in the play" and that it is Fernand Fabre, "first prize of tragedy, artist at the Odeon Theater and at L’œuvre," who assumes the main role. We also learn that the rural guard was recruited on the spot in Uzerche, where the exteriors of the film were filmed (the interiors were filmed in Neuilly), to play his own role. According to Ciné-Miroir of October 1, 1925, the cast and crew leave that week to shoot in Uzerche.
Fernand Fabre owes his role to his experience in the theater. He will explain much later, during his appearance in the show "Les dossiers de l'écran" on July 22, 1980, that his success was so great as a silent actor that when the talkies arrived, the producers doubted his ability to be able to deliver a dialogue, forgetting his theatrical experience!

Georges Morton & Lucien Carol

It is only after Knock, during the shooting of L'Appassionata, that Léon Mathot teaches him to move slowly enough so that his movements do not "run" on the screen. That is to say that, the rate of shooting then being less than 20 frames per second, a gesture too abrupt might not be captured in detail when shooting. It was therefore necessary to turn your eyes before turning your head to accompany the movement.
However, there was a scene in Knock where the doctor brought to the door the two frightened peasant friends, when they had originally entered his office in bravado. Satisfied with his blow, he would make a gesture of triumph, clicking his tongue. This innocuous gesture in a sound film and at normal speed, took two hours to film to ensure that the audience would understand what the subtle move was all about.
The actor also remembers that he had a lot of trouble keeping his seriousness because of René Lefèvre's jokes.

Régiane as pharamacist Mousquet

Shooting

We have a rare testimony, published in Pour Vous on October 31, 1935, from the production manager of the film, Lucien Pinoteau. It is not every day that such a man is interviewed. He remembers that his assistant was the future great director of photography Armand Thirard. He also narrates an anecdote about the final scene. 250 patients were supposed to brandish each a thermometer. However, it appears that it was a rare and expensive commodity at the time. He finally found 300 discarded in a pharmacy. After René Hervil's anger when he realized that many were unusable, he nevertheless managed to find enough to finish the scene.

Mon Ciné of March 4, 1926 praises the ingenuity of René Hervil's special effects when miniature doctors come out of the pages of a book on Knock's desk and disappear in his inkwell. They are in fact actors evolving in a giant set.
It was on December 15, 1925 that Ciné-Miroir announced the finished film and the imminent presentation.

Parpalaid (Léon Malavier) and his wife (Maryanne) pick up Dr. Knock (Fernand Fabre) in their old car

The release

The film was released at the Electric Palace in Paris exclusively on December 25, 1925 (according to Cinémagazine) [although the imdb retains January 2, 1926].
In the March 19 issue, it is announced "this week in theaters", that is to say the general release.

Knock (Fernand Fabre) & 2 skeptical peasants (Georges Morton & Lucien Carol)

Cinéa - Ciné Pour Tous greets the film as "a great humor film as good as overseas productions", a challenge for the adaptation of a "play which humor was mainly verbal. "We only regret the fact that Dr. Knock has, in the film, become a joker".

Knock (Fernand Fabre) examines a peasant (Georges Morton) ...

... and creates a chronically ill patient.

The resurrection

The film then slept in the archives.
I found traces of two recent screenings: from October 4 to 11, 2008 at the Pordenone silent film festival in Italy (according to the CNC website) and a more recent one which attests to the digitization of the film with the collaboration of Lobster Film.
The town of Uzerche decides to digitize the film in order to present it in the "Louis Jouvet" Theater. However, the film is still the subject of interest for the rights holders. The projection still took place on November 6 and 7, 2015 (this article even reports 3 screenings over several years), but to date, the film is still unavailable to the general public in any format. Here is an excerpt where Knock makes his first visit to pharmacist Mousquet (Raoul Darblay):

Mon Ciné of February 11, 1926 teaches us that René Hervil is supposed to then shoot The Man with the Hispano, which will ultimately be directed by Julien Duvivier with Huguette Duglos.

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