Léontine garde la maison
Léontine Keeps House
Romeo Bosetti
The young Léontine (played by an adult actor) is home alone and in charge of house, dog and baby. An overzealous cleaning frenzy ends in broken crockery, floods and fire. And in a moment of distraction, her charges vanish too. The film is a celebration of rule-breaking and anarchy, embodied by a girl who takes delight in upending bourgeois order.
How is it possible that we don’t even know the name of the actor who played Léontine Penouillard, let alone anything about her life story? An internationally popular enfant terrible, the film character of Léontine was comical, mischievous and anarchic. Between 1910 and 1912, Pathé Frères produced around 20 episodes of the Léontine series. Nicknamed Titine in France and Betty in the US and Britain, she enjoyed global popularity, before vanishing entirely from the public eye.
Films with Léontine (Selection)
Les malices de Léontine 1912 | Léontine garde la maison 1912 | Léontine s’envole 1911 | Amour et musique 1911 | Un ravalement précipité 1911 | Léontine enfant terrible 1911
Romeo Bosetti
Romeo Bosetti, who was born in Chiari, Italy in 1879, was a French actor, director and screenwriter. He joined Pathé Frères in 1906, where he specialised in short comedy films, many of them following Léontine and her mischievous pranks. Bosetti is considered a pioneer of slapstick in early French cinema. He died in Suresnes, France, in 1948.
Films by Romeo Bosetti (Selection)
Zoé et le parapluie miraculeux 1913, Les malices de Léontine 1912, Léontine garde la maison 1912, Little Moritz demande Rosalie en mariage 1911, Little Moritz enlève Rosalie 1911, Rosalie et Léontine vont au théâtre 1911, Léontine enfant terrible 1911, Un ravalement précipité 1911
