Léon Poirier’s Verdun, Vision of History

The New York premiere of the new restoration of Verdun, Vision of History is scheduled to coincide with the 89th anniversary of the end of the Great War. An epic French film begun by the pioneering director Léon Poirier (French, 1884–1968) on the 10th anniversary of one of the most devastating battles of World War I—the Battle of Verdun of February 1916—the film, conceived as a pacifist work, recreates the horrendous battle between French and German troops, and chronicles the ferocity of the war and its tremendous human toll. Most of the actors in the film were themselves war veterans, and Poirier seamlessly meshed documentary footage with his meticulous restagings. Finished as a silent film in 1927, Verdun was eclipsed by the coming of sound. When Poirier finished a sound version in 1931, its reception was further muted by a resurgence of nationalism in both France and Germany.

Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film.

Thanks to Natacha Laurent, déléguée générale, Cinémathèque de Toulouse. Verdun, Vision of History was preserved and restored by the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, one of France’s major national film archives, with a grant from the Fondations Gans pour le Cinéma and the help of the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC).