Preceded by Gaumont newsreels of 1913. Perret is now recognized for the striking visual style and editing before Griffith, in features including the 1913 L'Enfant de Paris (see September 18). His pre-war comedies, all but forgotten until the seventies, are considered by historian Richard Abel to be the most sophisticated of their day. In the Léonce series, his character is that of the "assured bourgeois type, completely modern in his habits and more agile and quick-witted than his slightly heavyset body andlarge open face might suggest. The comedy depends almost exclusively on situations in which he is involved with...the French version of the 'new woman'." (Abel)