What were the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris like?

A documentary by Marie-Laurence Rincé reveals previously unseen images of the competition and reveals that criticism was already rife with the price of tickets and transport problems. To see on Public Senate.

“We worked hand in hand with Gaumont-Pathé-archives which has a fairly impressive stock of images since they have 15 000 hours of rushes in total”, says the director of the film, Marie-Laurence Rincé. This fascinating documentary, to be seen on Saturday June 22, on Public Senate, looks back at the previous Paris Olympics, those of 1924. These Games were the first to be entirely filmed, but very few images were broadcast. This provides exceptional archives, with Johnny Weissmuller – the future Tarzan in cinema – or Suzanne Lenglen – who gave her name to a Roland Garros court. It’s a “treat”confides the director, “beyond the sporting events, we also discover completely fascinating images of Paris that we have never seen”with Parisians from 1924, who “were already riding scooters” or “were bathing in the Seine”.

Beyond this photograph, we find similarities in the context between these 1924 Games and those planned 100 years later. In a difficult post-war situation, the French authorities are keen “to make a spectacular event” For “restore balm to the heart of all of France” And “show that France is a great nation”. The documentary also talks about the lack of funding, due to a highly indebted state. The debates at the time are the same as today. Accommodation, transport and the price of places are particularly involved, they vary “between two francs and 50 francs, which makes about 200 euros and 5 000 euros today”, explains Marie-Laurence Rincé. Which is also “tasty” in the similarities, confides the director again, is that the president had just “resign following legislative elections which had been unfavorable to him” !

Watch this interview on video: