Since sound motion pictures appeared in 1927, the film industry was greatly interested in live performing arts. Here Max de Rieux (1905-1963) captures a puppet show in its entirety by filming both the stage as well as the puppeteers’ actions behind the curtain.  For this film the director chose one of the most famous puppet shows of all, Guignol.

The Guignol puppet, an ageless man with his hair in a bow, was born in the beginning of the 19th century in the streets of Lyon. His creator Laurent Mourguet (1769-1844) had just lost his job and acted as a tooth puller in public squares.  To collar the shoppers and distract those who were about to lose their teeth, the street dentist dreamt up a little puppet show.  Besides Guignol there was also Gnafron (who plays the Devil in the film), a puppet whose red cheeks are a reminder of his liking for alcohol…

Guignol quickly became very popular thanks to his outspokenness and rebellious spirit. Among the most famous troupes performing these shows the Guignol Mourguet troupe, who you can see at work in the film, were originally from the first troupe Laurent Mourguet started up and it continues to perform today.

In the beginning of the 20th century several authors enjoyed writing parodies of operas or plays for Guignol, like Albert Chanay who wrote a number of plays intended for the puppet from Lyon, and who wrote the text for The terrible adventure of doctor Faust. Chanay is far from being the first and will certainly not be the last to have been inspired by the popular German fairy story, whose original and anonymous work Historia von D. Johann Fausten dates back to 1587.