L'assassinat du duc de Guise

Although it's been a while since the two years of French I took in high school, plus my knowledge of 16th century French history is probably a bit lacking, however I still managed to follow this basic story fine. The problem really is that the short is just kind of a slow paced overly dramatic stage play on film more than anything else. Although the theatrical costumes and the original score help to elevate the film, overall it only manages to be kinda interesting from a historical perspective.

Not particularly interesting except as a historical footnote for its original score and fairly large budget. The staging and acting are still highly theatrical and it doesn't function well as a film. It is competent but unremarkable production for the era. It's perhaps slightly ahead of the curve with the spatial aspects of its continuity editing. And it manages to be a totally stand-alone historical drama, which is mildly interesting for the era. But that's about it.

A rather theatrical looking early historical costume drama. It gets the job done, with decent costumes and a reliance on real acting to tell the story (unsurprising, given that this was done by talent from the Comédie Française). Still, it's a bit disappointing for what was clearly a prestigious production for the time (they even commissioned a score by Saint-Saens); and about the only real appeal at this point is historical interest.

It's OK, don't see the big deal here.

It's nice that this feels like an actual story but That's about all I can say about it.