Having featured highlights from the composer-supervised recording of Gustave Charpentier’s opera, “Louise,” today on my radio show, “The Lost Chord,” I was moved to search for the Abel Gance-directed film version that came out a few years later, in 1939. Gance is probably best known for his silent masterpiece, “Napoleon” (1927; once running close to 9-and-a-half hours; the latest restoration puts it at 7). And what do you know? I found it on YouTube, clocking in at a comparatively lean 1 hour and 25 minutes.

American soprano Grace Moore, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “One Night of Love” (1934), sings the lead. (“One Night of Love” was the first recipient of an Academy Award for Best Original Score, even though much of the soundtrack is devoted to opera arias and traditional songs.) Tenor Georges Thill and bass André Pernet recreate their stage roles as Julien and Louise’s father, respectively.

Charpentier was very hands-on throughout the production, as he was with the 1935 recording, making cuts and alterations, coaching Moore, and advising Gance. At the time, the composer would have been about 79 years-old.

Charpentier died in 1956 at the age of 95. Until then, he lived pretty much as he always had, since at least 1885 (the year “Louise” is set) – an eternal bohemian in an artist’s garret in Montmartre.

Take a gander at Gance’s “Louise” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uBLMfLyaSQ

The opera’s biggest hit, the aria “Depuis le jour,” begins at 49:41. Here, I cued it up or you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uBLMfLyaSQ&t=2981s

Vive Louise!