Short film
Οι περιπέτειες του Βιλλάρ
Joseph Hepp · 1927
Synopsis
Villar, forever a rascal, always in love and incredibly clumsy, takes a job in a laundry and pursues the woman he loves across Athens, from the neoclassical buildings of University Street to the seafronts of Phaleron. Along the way, a burlesque wedding takes place at the foot of the Acropolis, and the Athens of that time parades behind him.
Context
The Cinémathèque of Greece places it three years earlier, on the strength of Hepp, who gave it this date nearly forty years afterwards. A 2020 study in the journal Filmicon establishes that the exteriors were shot in the second half of September 1927, an article of 20 September 1927 describing the shoot. Villar was the revue comedian Níkos Sfakianós, who wrote the screenplay. In 1963, Hepp gave Aglaḯa Mitropoúlou his early films, among them a large part of this one; the restored print is accompanied by music by Minás Alexiádis.
Who it is for
A short silent comedy of about twenty-six minutes, shown at screenings and sometimes available online. Nothing to know beforehand.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by the national film archive as the oldest surviving Greek fiction film, and shown as such.