All language subtitles for The.Wheel.1923.720p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX] ITA

This restoration has received support
by the National Film Center

and animated image as part of the
of the restoration assistance plan

and the digitization of the
film heritage.

With the support of

THE WHEEL
Abel Gance

I dedicate this film

To the memory of my dear young wife,

Ida Danis, who died at age 27.

THE WHEEL

Tragedy of modern times
in a prologue and four acts

Assistant: Blaise Cendrars

Photography: BUREL, Bujard, Duverger

Set design by Abel Gance
directed by the author

PROLOGUE
a scarlet twilight

Machinist Sisif, returning from work,

was fortunately on hand
to direct rescue operations.

"Close the security lines,

headless idiots!

45 seconds to block track 4 for 2020!"

"Close the 24-14 and the 17
and all stop signs."

"The platform is still open! My God!

The traffic light is open for 2020
That will collide with all this!"

"An axle is blocking
the traffic light control.

The express is coming toward us..."

Rescue train.

Suddenly, at nightfall,

Sisif remembered that under the bush
of roses, near the rail...

"She would make a good sister
for my baby!..."

"Pretty?"

Sisif, taking the child,

Unknowingly tore

The rose of the rail covered by the little girl's dress....

... and these words were written:

"Fortunately, there will always be

a rose in the wheel..."

Sisif had a son, Elie, whose mother
had died giving birth to him.

One morning.

The inventory of items found in the accident.

Dear Madam,

...finding myself obliged

To leave England...

she knows what poverty

struck me and my little Norma

Since the death of my poor husband.

I will find ... probably
a little place in France...

Where I hope to raise my daughter...

The dead father,

mother killed in the accident,

no one more in the know.

What would become of this orphan?

to Public Assistance?...

"What about you, Sisif, any
statement to make?"

"Indeed!"

"While all these bigwigs

They were running around and screaming.

I stopped 2020 from coming upon us

Unlocking traffic light E."

"I mean, don't you have anything
interesting to say?"

"Indeed!"

"The rest of us are not used to seeing flowers.

Between the tracks, and yet, gentlemen..."

"On the tracks ... I found ..."

"this rose!..."

"This is Sisif!

The best machinist on the line.
Stubborn but indispensable!"

"Very good with the hands.

Invent small improvements

to engines for our patent office.

Quiet! We understand each other, huh?"

Dear Madam,

Finding myself obliged...

To leave England...

The only evidence of Norma's presence
in the incident is missing.

"Do you want me to give you a little brother?"

"She cannot speak like the rest of us."

And in front of the little toy incident,

which reproduced in miniature

the catastrophe of the day before...

Sisif understood that the Wheel of Life.

was carrying the burden for him
of Norma's fate.

Years go by and by...

The two children grow up believing
they are brother and sister.

But the Wheel goes round and round.

THE WHEEL
Part One

THE ROSE ON THE RAIL

"I know that Creation is a
Great Wheel that cannot

move without crushing someone!"
VICTOR HUGO

Fifteen years passed.

At the clock bar of the
"black faces" a payday....

Engineer Duterne
drinks wine.

The engineer Chaume
drinks water.

The fuchist Sarment
drinks beer.

Stoker Léger
drinks vermouth.

"What happens in his
life to poor Sisif?"

"You feel sorry for a fool.

Who loses all his money at the game?

Look at this!

He thinks he is a kind of
of tavern Christ

With the bistro windows as haloes..."

Sisif, machinist first class,
drinks enormous amounts of alcohol.

"I, Machefer, stoker,
for a drunkard like him?

I would risk my life."

THE SIDEWALK VIRGIN

Sisif lives nearby in a small house...

...surrounded by rails...

...and shrouded in smoke...

... in the company of his son, luthier Elie...

... and Norma, whom he believed was his sister....

THE SIDEWALK VIRGIN

"That trickster Jacobin is a real bastard!

He was looking at your daughter the other day..."

"You have your train at 6:07.

Go. First comes the work!"

"Whoever dares to lay his eyes on
my daughter Norma ... must be careful!"

Secret report on the
first-class machinists.

Sisif: Behavior of the past year.

absolutely incomprehensible,

Drinking, gambling,

discusses, for no apparent reason.

I draw the attention of Mr. Inspector

On his case.

"Why am I angry with Sisif?

I have no idea!

And it's worse than if I had a reason."

"Rail, wheels, smoke,

How sad this is!

This hectic modern life exasperates me."

How I wish I had been
a luthier centuries ago and married

To a woman who would have been as nice as you.

Mr. Jacques de Hersan, civil engineer
and inspector of building materials.

High social position.
Great personal fortune.

Hersan, every day for the past six months,

had circled Norma in vain.

"When will you allow me to ask
your hand from your father?"

"The three of you are strangled by poverty.

Your father sinks
Into the abyss more and more each day.

Our marriage Norma,
would make everyone happy."

My dear Sisif,
the patent office

Is asking me for the plans on the process

of vaporization
of gate valves

You promised. Get them ready.

I'll come by tomorrow with the 300 francs

we agreed upon
for this invention.

Jaques de Hersan

THE SIDEWALK VIRGIN

"Elie, didn't I forbid you?

To spend your days with your sister?"

"You have to get out of here Norma,

far, far away
and never return."

"Are you crazy, Dad?
What did he do to you?"

"A poor old worker's hand,
like those of the comrades..."

"Is that all?"

"So...you don't see well..."

That evening-as usual.

My dear Sisif,
the patent office

Is asking me for the plans on the process

of vaporization
of gate valves

You promised. Get them ready.

I'll come by tomorrow with the 300 francs

we agreed upon
for this invention.

Jaques de Hersan

Hersan Dalilah and Co.
Dalilah. Ms. GIL CLARY

"Hello. Is the management of
materials is asking for me?"

"Do you want the plans on the gate valve?

They will be ready by tomorrow.

I'll work on it all night."

Night.

Dawn.

My dear children,

I am making you very unhappy.

It would be better for me to leave.

Do not try to understand
why and forgive me.

I embrace you both
To my battered heart.

Sisif

"You see how misery forces him to leave.

And that I have to get married."

"A murderer!"

That day,

As the sunset calmed
the fever of the rails...

"I forbid you to wear skirts
short skirts and silk stockings. Do you understand?"

"You obviously didn't work for me!"

"In addition,

This morning I intercepted and destroyed

A report on your behavior:

Gambling, fighting, drunkenness.

What's going on?"

"What's going on?"

"Listen to me, Hersan. I'm going to tell you

the scariest story

That could ever happen to a man."

"First of all, Norma is not my daughter,
as she and my son believe."

"For years I never dared to say anything.

She thinks I am her father.

It would have hurt her too much

know the truth."

"It was the spontaneity and heavenly face
Of my little 'Rose of the Railroad'."

"I didn't realize what was being
subtly awakening in me..."

... OF WRINKLES IN 5 MINUTES

RIDIS powder erases wrinkles with the
ease of an eraser erasing a pencil.

"One day, the veil was torn."

"I was in love with Norma!"

Sisif would catch his breath.

His heart was beating fast

Like a connecting rod in full swing

As the twilight trains faded away

Before him in the phantasmagoric mists.

"You can't imagine the hell that
has become my life since that day."

"And the nights, the terrible nights!"

"Chained to the Wheel of Life, always,

From despair into despair."
KIPLING

"What do you recommend?

Leave?

Kill me?

"I could never confess to her.

its origins now.

This secret is my protection.

It is the mask of my love.

She would flee to the ends of the earth

If he ever found out..."

"I am afraid to be in his presence.

When my face is not blackened by smoke.

Under my soot mask,

She cannot see my suffering."

"Your father just made a confession to me."

"The game and poverty.

Have reduced him to this state.

You two are a burden to him.

He has to get out of here

Before something bad happens to him."

"I don't love you enough,
Mr. de Hersan..."

"Think about it...

I will come tomorrow for your final answer."

"Don't marry him, my dear Norma.

I am afraid that man is not good for you.

I will discover my Cremona paint

And my violins will become famous.

Be patient..."

END OF THE FIRST PART

THE WHEEL
Part Two

THE TRAGEDY OF SISIF

Sisif, that night, waited for
the quietest hour to die.

"You go to bed. I will park
the locomotive by myself."

I am therefore in hell
That I cannot even die!!!

The machinist Sisif,
has a twisted brain.

He tried to get himself killed
by his locomotive

Its suspension is mandatory.

"And it is said that they themselves
cannot free themselves from the Wheel..."

KIPLING

Dear Mr. Hersan,
this letter contains

my decision
to become your wife.

Come and talk
with my father tomorrow.

Norma

# I was ordered ten violins. #

The following day.

Secretarial Service Report:

First official caution

For the first-class machinist Sisif.

He tried to throw himself
under his locomotive,

risking causing
further damage and injury

Leaving his locomotive untended.

Note: A second caution.

Will lead to mandatory retirement.

"I have apue of your attempt.
My poor friend!"

"To escape from your nightmare Sisif,
I see only one way..."

"The one about letting me marry Norma!"

You love her and so do I.
I've thought about it and I'm ready for anything.

I will remove this child from the
danger you pose to her.

My decision is. relentless.

"You will never have Norma, do you hear?
Never! Never!"

"Then I will tell him.

Of its origins and your feelings.

you can choose

Between your love and mine."

"Quick! I have 40 seconds to clear
the express track."

Reading the letter with Norma's consent,
Hersan did not waste a moment.

Dear Mr. de Hersan,
this letter contains

My decision to become your wife.

Come and talk to my father tomorrow.

Norma

"I will wait for Norma outside and tell her
What she risks under your roof.

You will see if she does not flee in horror
From your roof to take refuge under mine."

"And what else will you have left?

The shame of having destroyed

the illusions it preserves...

I promise to always keep...

If you will allow me to have it."

"No, no, I love her too much. She is mine...

I will tell her everything....
and she will stay here forever!"

"Proof!"

Then, to make you rich and happy.

I accept my little Norma,
marry him, since you love him.

"Besides, it will be better for me ...
much better for me."

The same evening.

"I drink at Norma's wedding."

"I never want to
hear about her.

Never! It was the only way to avoid it..."

"I drink at my own funeral!...

"...as a bachelor!"

I will try to behave myself-yes, my dears!

I fell head over heels for
a young lady from the railroad...

Who has certain legs...

"I want to drown my love,
Drown my heinous obsession.

In the moonlight of the well,
in the green moonlight..."

"You will water them, won't you?"

"He swears he will eat every day!"

"I swear, but come back soon, my dear!"

Sisif had waited for his day
i which he would lead the rapid E108

To take it to the big city himself.

At one stop, Sisif remembered
of a voice that twenty years earlier

Who had shouted:
"Child thief!"

"You laugh, you bastard! Do you think she will escape me?

No, you old red-eyed orb, she will not
arrive alive in your arms."

"The Wheel Man and the Wheel Rose.

Are meant to die together...

A little courage and soon
it will all be over."

"Since I feel cheerful, Mâchefer,

I allow you to toast her health."

But even in his alcoholic stupor.

Mâchefer thought he heard the bursting
the detonator of the stop sign.

This time he was sure.

They were past a stop sign.

Paris: the city of the inimitable tower of the
Great Patibulum and the Wheel... BLAISE CENDRARS

"... For it is written that no one shall escape the Wheel."

The return.

The wheel man, now alone,

With its unspeakable pain,

I attempt to transfer his love

To his old companion with smoking hair.

"It is the new name of my locomotive."

And understanding, as only things can be,

Norma Compound sometimes pronounced
In her steely language:

"I will always remain faithful to you.

And when you are too sad, I will tell you about her.

"And you will still hear its ethereal
Melancholy in the singing of my wheels,

In the feverish throb of my
connecting rods and in my sighs of smoke."

That same evening.

Mr. de Hersan,
if you value your life,

I would advise you never to let Norma

know one word
about what I have told you,

And as for your marriage,
always act as the men of law

diplomatically, so that she remains

In complete ignorance of its origins.

This is my command.
Follow it.

And unable to escape the Wheel
Of its inexpressible love,

Sisif continued night after night, as if
Norma was still there, her desperate vigils.

"You are stupid to eat here."

"Do I reproach you for loving your violins?

I think I love my locomotive.

I am also a kind of artist."

"Look. Isn't this cloud
Of light is not worth your music?"

My dear father,
why won't you answer me?

And why do you refuse the money I send you?

Please accept it or give it to Elie.

Your desperate daughter

MONEY ORDER 5000 FRANCS

From Mrs. Norma de Hersan.
Payable to Mr. Sesif.

Rejected by the recipient.
Sisif.

Months passed.

Another sadness.

What he saw.

The empty house.

How secrets vanish.

"My sister is not entered
in the family booklet?"

"Isn't Norma my sister?"

A horrible suspicion crossed the mind
of Elie, that other memories confirmed it.

"I want to drown my love,
Drown my heinous obsession,

In the well moon, in the green moonlight,"

"You must have very serious reasons.

For keeping this secret from us.

I want to know. I have the right
to know what they are!"

"The days went by too quickly.

It would have hurt him too much to know.

And then everything had become habit....

And I didn't dare tell him."

"All your behavior
is now clear: You lie dad!"

... There are misfortunes that must
be kept silent! EDIPO RE.

"There are no flowers

In the middle of the tracks for us.

And in the face of the miracle

Of seeing one appear someday,

we can be excused
for extending a hand.

"On the Wheel... bound, bound all,
bound always!" KIPLING.

THE SIDEWALK VIRGIN
Tome 154

CANCER. Such father,
like son. An old proverb!

"I would have liked to have been married

To a woman like you!

These once innocent words

took on a meaning
deeply disturbing...

It would not be possible if she returned home,

To continue his tender love affair with her.

And finally declare his love,

Without her being offended?

And you are no longer my sister in this sweet fairy tale.

You are nothing but an open heart
That listens to me while I cry,

For I know that these words have never
reached your ears and your ineffable senses....

... and then I can adore you in this disguise!

To my aid comes the night with its mysterious plan.

To soften my forehead from the harsh shadow of the branch.

As she adorns your temple with her starry braid.

And my shadow is lost in Tristan's shadow!

I love you!!! I'm crazy...

Forgive Elie's words.
My love cannot speak...

... stutter!

Yet it rises in me
Like a burning sap.

From the flaming heart of the earth,
To the heart of the blue trees.

And it makes my head spin so much.
That my words wander.

"Well, old man,
you can tell jokes!"

"The Wheel that will hurt you and me,

Will destroy my pure soul and yours."
Omar KAYYHAM

My dear Elie,

your little sister is very unhappy.

My husband loves me very much

But I cannot reciprocate his feelings,

our worlds are too different.

How I would like to hug you tightly.

I am learning the violin by myself,

Because then I feel closer to you.

"I will never forgive you for making me
miss my happiness with Norma!"

"So you too ... my poor Elie ... you too."

On his boat, next to
To the man I detest

And whose love defiles me

a little bit more every day,

I am writing to you for the tenth time,

my dear Elie.

But you probably will

Tear up this letter as well,

Since you never answer me,

And then I will cry

Looking at the trains of my dreams

pass through the sea

And listening to the engine that reminds me

Of the sound of the tracks.

The sound of the Wheel.

There are real damnations,

Men who carry the word "bad luck"

stamped in mysterious letters

In the folds of their foreheads." BAUDELAIRE

"And you too, Norma!"

"I never want to hear your voice again, understand?"

"He's going crazy with that girl from the station!"

"The worst thing is that it is Jacobin.

Will lead the "Norma"

If you call in sick.

To destroy it. Woe to us!"

DR. ROY Ophthalmologist

Confirming our diagnosis

the optic nerve becomes weaker and weaker

and despite the pleas of the engineer Sisif,

We maintain our pension claim,

all active services are impossible
Dr. Roy

"No one answered my letters, you rascals!"

"We were there, very quiet the two of us.

You come to bring misfortune with your laughter!

My dear Norma, you must never come back here again."

"Isn't that right, Elie?"

"Good morning, my dear Norma."

"I see you recognize me, you sigh faster..."

My sight is going, old woman.

I can't see beyond 30 meters
And they want to force me to give you up."

NO, SISIF!

"Wouldn't you rather die than
than fall into Jacobin's hands?"

Ooh... Yes...

They chatted mysteriously until dusk.

The death of "Norma Compound."

"Sisif just took off like crazy on 7.
What is he playing at?"

"He will only break his neck.
It's on track 22 that has the bumper."

The agony of Norma Compound.

"Aren't you angry with me, Norma?"

"Goodbye, old woman!"

Norma-Compound was dead.

Punishment.

Administrative report.
Second admonition:

The Sisif driver, following
22 bumper accident,

Must be transferred and degraded.

For his loyal services,
will be assigned to lead

Of the Mont Blanc funicular railway.

"Goodbye, old woman!"

END OF
SECOND PART.

THE WHEEL
Part Three

THE RACE TO THE ABYSS

SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS PARTS
Following a railway disaster,

machinist Sisif takes in
a little orphan girl named Norma.

Grows it in total ignorance of its origins

alongside his son, luthier Elie,

to whom she had led him to believe that she was his sister.

Love: one of those loves that is
the cause of all human tragedies,

had gradually awakened
in Sisif's melancholy soul.

To whom never before had the face
Of woman had smiled.

Believing himself freed from his nightmare,

Sisif married Norma off to an administrator
of the company named de Hersan.

But "like father, like son":
cancer devouring Elie in turn

And the same crazy, tyrannical love ,
implanted itself in the spirit of the luthier,

Desperate for Norma's departure
from the greatest of lost paradises.

Norma, oblivious to the csuscita dramas,
becomes the centerpiece of the Wheel of Fate

Dragging in its tragic wanderings,

the troubled hearts of father, son and husband.

Fired from the Great Railroad,
the greatest of the Black Faces."

the Wheel Man,has taken refuge
in a snowy mountain where,

For a mockery of fate,
rides a panting cable car.

And all human tragedies seem to
lurk in the miserable hut

Where the two men dwell near the stars.

But to annihilate me, alas!

I know all too well that all the suffering

can't do anything to me!

That if my sad life in the
past had been saved,

Was reserved for greater evils:

Oh, may my destiny be all fulfilled!

EDIPO RE

A house 3,000 meters above the valley,

Where it was forbidden to speak Norma's name.

"That bitch! She's leaking all over the place!
Let her rot outside!"

My dears,
what harm have I done you?

Have you not received my letters?

You have left our
dear home of the railroad

Without telling me anything?

I suffer like a child and...

But Norma populated their silence.

Vacation.

Even the tenacious old mistress
of de Hersan, had taken a vacation.

"Mr. Kalatarikarascopoulos
Has been my husband since last week!

A huge fortune. A fanatic of
mineralogy. Doesn't speak a word of French.

Some kind of imbecile. Isn't that right, Bibi?"

That night, the shadow of the Stradivarius
must have trembled.

"The secret of Cremonese paint,

lost over the past 200 years,

Found it.

Here it is! I have suffered so much

In the past five years...

suffered so much!"

"We are going to be rich soon! You will be able to
heal your eyes, my old dad."

"Go to bed, you big fool!"

Hersan's fortunes were compromised.

"The wheel turns, old man. To your disadvantage.
The pound dropped to 44. General panic.

Come now and don't do anything
reckless! We will get out of this."

"I don't know what I have, Tobie,

But this old steel slug is beginning to touch my heart.

So I was born to love locomotives?

Norma III is coming.
What a crazy old man I am!"

"I know these expressions.

You have money problems my dear."

The delight of Kalatarikarascopoulos

In front of a block of rock crystal,

was matched only by that

Of his wife in front of Hersan.

"If I can please you!"

"I love my wife and have returned
to being an honest man.

That surprises you, doesn't it?
Have a good evening!"

My dear,
it's 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm ruined.

My gun is on my desk
And I'm hesitating because I love you too much.

Please understand that a new man has been born in me
A new man from our marriage.

My little railing rose,
In my delirium last night,

You appeared to me as the center
Of an inexorable wheel

Who innocently carries
all destiny in its rays...

And I'm just as taken as everyone else.

Sisif and his son were preparing to attend
the big competition at the Majestic Hotel,

where a soloist would have performed
gladly with one of the young man's instruments,

in front of an audience
selected audience of famous luthiers.

"15 cents for fun,
you are stingy my boy!"

From the whiteness of the peaks
To the bright colors of the palace.

"They are not made for black faces,
these mundane places.

I will use the time to go to the eye doctor,

Who will receive me in the evening for my work."

"I didn't say anything ... but my eyes.

I've been a little sore for a few days."

A triumph! Verified by the luthiers present.

It was the end of Elie's agony,
it meant glory and good fortune.

"I need to know the truth, sir,

the absolute truth, is for my work.

Do you understand? Although..."

"Lost?"

"My violin? I'm very happy, Dad...
A success... Bravo... Bravo."

"What about your eyes?"

"Like you, my boy,
very happy -- very happy."

Increasingly withdrawn into himself,

Sisif looked at the play of light

In the midst of all things humble and worldly,

he had never seen so beautiful....

"I'm not lucky you see!
By now, you've understoodfor a long time."

In search of agate, amethyst and carnelian.

"Don't go to Dad, Norma, I beg you."

In the face of Norma's candor,

Elie felt again like
the brother with a pure conscience.

The terrible feeling would perhaps never return.

And talkative, he recounted his working life.

"Life with my husband.

Has become intolerable.

I never loved him

And I have one the desire,

To return to my old place

With you two, my darlings."

"You look at her and smile...

And as you smile, an atrocious thought.

Comes to mind, against which your whole being

Shudders with revulsion..." D'ANNUNZIO

"The idea grows in vigor,

becomes monstrous, becomes dominant.

And your whole soul is infected....

And all within you,

becomes stain and contamination!

Oh! Is it credible?" D'ANNUNZIO

"Don't ask me questions, Norma.

But remember Father's words:

"Never to be found in our presence,

If you want to avoid a misfortune!"

"Your train is whistling. Go ahead!"

"I was sure of it. She's cheating on her husband!"

The same evening.

Night.

"Did she come?"

"So, is there cancer in the family, Dad?"

"Such unfortunate beasts,

it's you and me, my poor boy!"

The Wheel of Despair turns in the grooves of the sky

And splashes with mud, the face of God!
Blaise Cendrars

My dear Elie,

Bring me one of your best violins,

so I can keep practicing

And I will feel closer to you.

Because I dare not come to you anymore

And I spend my time

looking for an explanation

To your behavior and my father's behavior.

Norma III or Sisif's third love.

"Let's think about it, Tobie!

It is evident that it is less fast

And she is not so beautiful, but she has her feet on the ground!"

" What would my old
'Compound' on a hill like this?

We can't be so dismissive, can we, Tobie?"

I adore you, Norma.
I am not your brother

I adore you, Norma.
I am not your brother

And love torments me
As nothing else would ppt.

And I am carving my heart, in the soul of this violin, before I die.

So my secret will remain hidden,

But much closer to your lips.

And when you play at dusk,

Sliding the bow over my secret,

You will say to yourself,amazed,
turning your head:

"Is someone talking to me about love?"

You will conquer my heart and you will not understand....

"Father will not allow you to come back now.
Later... Maybe much later..."

"You wrote me such crazy things, Norma."

Evening.

"Norma, this place is not
worthy of you. We will leave tomorrow!"

"It hurts me to see you in pain, my friend.

I beg you, let us separate

And let me go back to my old railway life."

"Your old life, but you're crazy!
Tumi belong!"

My dear Elie,
it is over.

Hersan shattered with his
bestiality my last scruples.

I am writing to beg you
to talk to Father,

So I can go back
To my old place at home.

We are leaving this morning
To avoid scandal.

But I am selling everything and will be back.
Norma

My dear Elie,
and over.

Hersan shattered with his
bestiality my last scruples.

I am writing to beg you
to talk to Father,

So I can go back
To my old place at home.

We are leaving this morning
To avoid scandal.

But I am selling everything and will be back.
Norma

I adore you, Norma.
I am not your brother

And love torments me
As nothing else could.

And I am carving my heart, in the soul
Of this violin, before I die.

MOUNTAIN WHITE RAILWAYS

"Elie?"

"Thief!"

"Artist!"

"Don't look at me!
You have poison in your eyes."

"What did you do to my boy?"

"You killed him, didn't you?"

"Where is Elie?"

"Elie?"

"Is he dead?"

"I don't... I...know..."

"Little Rose of the Rail.
I love you so much...

As much as the one...you thought...your...!"

"Do you hear that, Tobie?"

"I can hear him screaming!"

Guided by the cries...

"Come on, Elie. I'm coming!"

"Quick Norma. Quick!"

"Here I come my boy! Hang in there!"

Explain to me, you know very well that I don't
distinguish anything from a distance!

"Because of you... Because of you
he died! Go away, go away!"

"This place is mine!"

END OF THE THIRD PART

THE WHEEL
Part Four

SYMPHONY IN WHITE

And when the moon rose above the glacier....

The first train the next morning.

And we, Investigating Judge,

We conclude in summary that the judicial action

Is extinct, due to the fact that

the two opponents killed each other.

"Stop! Stop!
The highlanders. The hillbillies are here!"

"You are all I have."

One day a visitor arrived.

"I am Mr. Mâchefer, machinist
qualified first class,

I am looking for my old friend, Mr. Sisif."

Where it is shown that a horse
steam is not enough.

And where it is shown that
Mâchefer is not a mountaineer.

"It is also a good companion. It goes up to 27 percent.

I would love to see you with your Pacific.

To each his own qualities."

"What about over there?"

"Machinist First Class.
Pacific Consolidation!

Things are going well
And my stoker is in line!"

"During strikes, I also
drove without a stoker.

Everywhere I was called Napoleon."

"What about Norma?"

"And Eli?"

"He will be back in 27 years."

"Glaciers take twenty-seven
years to return their dead.

From the tragedy of the highlands
To the small dramas of the valley.

And then, one morning when all
humble things were happy,

Under the bright cross of the window...

"I must have slept all day.
It's evening, isn't it?"

"You are hallucinating, my old Sisif,
the sun is shining radiantly!"

"I can't see anything anymore,
my boy."

"Go ahead, go without me.
Work first.

The Wheel must keep turning."

"Take good care of the lubrication, will you?"

"Where are the mountains?"

From that time to his last day,

A shining snow dwelt in his pupils.

Winter came.

The Company, out of compassion,

left Sisif in the little house
with a small guesthouse.

Here he spent the long cold evenings,

With his pallor he seemed
emerge from the realm of shadows.

Unaware of Sisif's total blindness,

Norma would come from time to time

visiting the old man,

But when he turned back to her, gripped by fear....

... and the pain snowed in her as well....

The big day arrived,
the anniversary of Elie's death.

The same thought...

"Because we have to carry the cross
Before the cross bears us." (Claudel)

"Blind!"

Then, in the twilight, came prayer.

Evening.

"We have to tighten our belts,
old man. We're out of money!"

Night.

"I have arrived."

That night, Tobie explained to Elie.

Many happy things the echoes repeated.

Next day.

"Where is my shoe, Tobie?"

"So there is someone here!"

"That's Norma III going up!

What a beautiful sound the piston makes.
It warms the heart, my Tobie!"

"Clean her up and treat her better than that!

I felt that something
is going wrong in my Norma."

"Of the foreigners here! Never!
Leave me alone!

Alone-all alone!
I want to croak in peace!"

That night, she had come in tears to tell Elie.

How happy he was to come home.

Such days passed.

Norma remained silent

For fear of being kicked out.

If, despite his pain,

forced the Rose of the Railroad

To return to her,

With its youthfulness and cheerfulness,

could restore some joy

To his poor, caned face...

Sisif became imperceptibly accustomed.

To the enigmatic presence,

Sometimes with sudden beginnings of rebellion.

"Did you forget my glass, Tobie?"

The elderly love
explanations of miracles.

Transformation!

Their first words.

"Is it Joan of Arc or Norma III
going up, isn't it Tobie?"

"It's the Norma III, Dad. The compressor
is not working properly. It's rattling."

"They let children drive it!
So, do you understand my little one?"

The final leap had come unexpectedly.

She had arrived for good!

She learned from the old man another poignant secret.

Sisif had received the 50,000 francs won by his son

For the discovery of Cremonese paint.

But he had given the full amount

To the region's Guide Union,

In the hope of finding his son's body.

Night and day, for weeks,

caravans probed the dangerous glacier in vain.

Norma could now tell the distrustful blind man.

If the guides actually earned their wages.

And Sisif had understood this for 20 years now,

From the day of the little play accident,

That had been the miniature recreation

Of the catastrophe of the day before...

... and that his fate was inevitably.

linked to that of the little blond doll,

And that he had to keep it with him

Until the tragedy of the Wheel
would cease with his last breath.

"From black to white through
the rainbow of stormy ends."

And as in fairy tale endings,
they lived happily for a long time...

... because the spokes of the Wheel

were now adorned with Norma's smiles.

The young woman's name day arrived.

And the Feast of Guides on that gay morning.

The first day of winter, before
the high mountains become inaccessible.

guides and beautiful cheeked girls
pink in the region have a custom.

At dawn, as they go up, they burn the last tree

found at the foot of the glacier

And they dance around it.

Then they climb to the highest peak.

"Miss Norma, since you will be spending the winter here,

Away from the world, without distractions,

We thought you might like to
come dance with us today."

"A little powder and I'm at your place."

"Shake your head again, Norma.

Aren't you cheerful today?"

"Am I not cheerful? Father, I am happy.

It's not the same, it's sweeter and sadder!"

As the last glimmers of the sacrificial tree died,

the dance in a circle spun higher and higher in the snow.

And everything was spinning...

Even the clouds

Those white shadows of the mountains,

Who danced the eternal tragic dance

Of the Wheel around the peaks.

4300 meters! On the small plateau of Mont Blanc!

No guide remembered that some
fool, had danced so high.

"Tell me, Tobie.
Is the Wheel still turning up there?"

Sisif had gone gently,

As a ray of sunshine leaves a window at dusk....

Sisif's soul, freeing itself, caressed again.

With one of her shadow wings, little carefree Norma,

As he kept turning the Wheel...

END

Film restored between 2016 and 2019

by the Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation
based on a negative and positive nitrate

From the collections of the Cinémathèque française,

From copies from Cinémathèque suisse,
Cinémathèque de Toulouse,

of the National Film and Lobster Cinematheque.

Digitization and Restoration in 4K.
The Restored Image, Bologna and Paris.

The reconstruction of the February 1923 version,

divided into a prologue and 4 parts,
is accompanied by the music

selected by Arthur Honneger and Paul Fosse
for the release of the film at the Gaumont-Palace.

The reconstruction of musical arrangements

was made on the basis
Paul Fosse's list of records.

The sheet music was collected thanks to the publishers

and copyright holders of musical works,

to the Orchestra Library and the
Music Documentation of Radio France,

to the Sacem Archives Service,

Since the promotion of the Directors and
Memorial and Heritage Commission,

Of the Paul Sacher Foundation

and by the music department of the
Bibliothèque national de France.