Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Late Mathias Pascal (1926)

This expansive feature drama, adapted from a play by Luigi Pirandello and directed by Marcel L’Herbier, stars Ivan Mosjoukine and Marcelle Pradot, with Lois Moran, Marthe Mellot, Pauline Carton, Irma Perrot, M. Barsac, Michel Simon, Isaure Douvan, Pierre Batcheff, Georges Térof, Philippe Hériat, Jean Hervé, Solange Sicard and Jaque Catelain.

Mosjoukine is always excellent but we also love the stand-out performance by a young Michel Simon as the slightly-oafish Jérôme Pomino.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a high-definition scan of the 2009 restoration version duplicated for the most part from a very-good 1964 35mm duplicate preservation print held by La Cinémathèque française, and a 35mm nitrate print previously held by director Marcel L’Herbier. We assume that no digital cleanup has been performed as there is a significant amount of dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, chipping and scuffing, mild frame jitters, visible splices, and other print flaws remaining in the picture. Nevertheless, the presentation is satisfying viewing.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock, performed live by Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Unfortunately, brief audio drop-outs occur at 4:06 into the film disrupting the accompaniment.

Supplemental material includes a 12-page insert booklet with an essay by Richard Abel.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film, and we advise acquiring it before it goes out-of-print.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from a high-definition scan of the 2009 restoration version duplicated for the most part from a very-good 1964 35mm duplicate preservation print held by La Cinémathèque française, and a 35mm nitrate print previously held by director Marcel L’Herbier. We assume that no digital cleanup has been performed as there is a significant amount of dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, chipping and scuffing, mild frame jitters, visible splices, and other print flaws remaining in the picture. Nevertheless, the presentation is satisfying viewing despite the lower picture resolution of DVD.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock, performed live by Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Supplemental material includes a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Lenny Borger, with notes on the films of the collection. There is an option to view the English subtitles in white or yellow type.

For information about other films in this collection, see our French Masterworks: Russian émigrés in Paris 1923-1928 on home video page.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film. Unfortunately, the edition is now out-of-print.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .

Other FRENCH FILMS of the silent era available on home video.