Manuel Raaby
Rival knights compete for the hand of a beautiful maiden in this period feature from Jean Renoir, unfortunately only available in truncated form.
An ironic look at what it is like to be beautiful for a woman (and handsome for a few men) in the Paris of the late twenties.
On a cold New Year's Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward, sees a shooting star, and remembers her deceased grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone died and is going into Heaven. As she lights her next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother nearby for as long as she can. The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the dead child in the nook.
The tale of a rich, flaky poet and his servant who both join the army and wind up in the same barracks.
