13 April 2017

Le petit poucet (1905)

Le Petit Poucet/Tom Thumb (1905), produced by Pathé, is a film adaptation of Charles Perrault's famous story of 1697. The French silent film was worldwide released. In Spanish speaking countries it was called Pulgarito, and in the US Hop o'my thumb.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: The family of Tom Thumb.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: Tom Thumb slipping under the stool of his father.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: They went into a deep forest.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: From the top of a tree he saw a small glow.

Who was the director of Le petit poucet?


The Spanish film scholar Juan-Gabriel Tharrats claimed that it was the Spanish trick filmer Segundo de Chomón, who worked for Pathé in those years.

French Wikipedia claims that Le Petit Poucet (1905) was made by Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn.

The Fondation Jerôme Seydoux, keeper of the Pathé heritage, lists a 1905 version of Le Petit Poucet with no director nor actors at all, but also a 1909 version directed by Segundo de Chomón.

But for which version did Croissant publishers produce the beautiful hand coloured postcards in this post?

If you watch the video below, which is credited to be made by Segundo de Chomón in 1909, the story of the film is completely different to the tale on the postcards.

So the postcards must have been produced for the 1905 version, which was directed by Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn. Probably.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: Your husband is in big danger.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: They were put to bed early.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: Ah! There they are, our fellows.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905)
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: He fell on his knees asking for mercy.

Le petit poucet (Pathé frères 1905).
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3662. Photo: Film Pathé. Caption: He put all his family at ease.


Le petit poucet. Source: Gen Xavier (Internet Archive).

Sources: Fondation Jerome Seydoux (French), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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