If you’re already familiar with Louis Feuillade, his little-known opus Vendémiaire may come as a surprise. Unlike the bulk of his work which was characterised as ‘Fantastic Realism’, Vendémiaire is wonderfully down-to-earth realism – or down-to-French-earth realism to be specific. The film itself is divided into four chapters, the titles of which suggest that this is a movie about the cultivation and consumption of wine. But as the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that the cultivation and consumption of wine is an allegory for French culture and French land as a whole, and the real purpose of the film is to persuade the director’s fellow citizens to defend that spirit and those lands at all costs. It’s September 1918 and the war is coming to an end, but here on the Castelviel estate in the south of France the news has not yet arrived and everyone is busy with the grape harvest....

The Wildcat, a Robin Hood of the Spanish hills and son of an aristocrat, falls in love with Marcheta, who is pledged to marry Don Ramón to save the family fortune. On her wedding day The Wildcat abducts her and reveals his aristocratic identity.

A French washerwoman becomes a duchess and a friend of Napoleon.

En route to Sevilla, Central America, Richard Morton rescues a beautiful girl whom he knows only as Dolores from bandits and learns that she also is en route to Sevilla. He arrives to find his father under attack by Sevilla revolutionist. Intending to manage his father's ranch, he instead gets involved with the revolution, saves President Dominguez from his enemy Rodolfo Emanon, and learns that Dolores, who has consented to be his wife, is the president's daughter.