La Maison des lions

Madame Berre, the widow of a traveler returned from Africa, keeps a lion and two lionesses in the glass conservatory of her home. A servant named Fred mistreats the beasts until she dismisses him, but he schemes a return by claiming he forgot his hat, arriving the evening she entertains guests. Tension builds as Fred aims to settle a score and the animals become the focus of a dangerous tableau, where polite company collides with raw, unpredictable force. The short silent film presents its story through staged visuals and abrupt incidents, highlighting social roles, spectacle and the uneasy presence of wildness inside a domestic space. It moves quickly, aiming to shock and entertain.

La Maison des lions was directed by Louis Feuillade and released in France in 1912. As a silent short from the early cinema era, it reflects the studio practices and distribution patterns of French filmmaking before World War I period.

No reliable box office figures survive for this short film, which is typical for many early shorts. Records of ticket sales and distribution revenue from 1912 are fragmentary, so its commercial reception can't be meaningfully reconstructed or accurately estimated.

Among silent film specialists, La Maison des lions is cited for its early use of live exotic animals within a domestic set, and for contributing to Louis Feuillade's reputation as a prolific director. It attracts interest from archivists and collectors studying spectacle, class dynamics and staging practices in French cinema.

Contemporary reviews are scarce and modern ratings are limited, with a modest average on specialist sites. The film foregrounds power, obedience, spectacle and revenge, using animals to unsettle polite social rituals. Its style favors clear visual contrasts, theatrical composition and short, dramatic moments designed to provoke a reaction among historians.