This film meant a very great deal in 1911 because it is the real-life story of the lighthouse of Kerdonis, what is called a "maison-phare", an ordinary house with a lighthouse mechanism on the roof,on Belle-Île-en-Mer in Morbihan in Brittany. When the lighthouseman died on 18 April 1911, his wife and two children kept the light going by hand all night (the mechanism having developed a fault). She was awarded a médaille d'honneur on the 16 June 1911. The Breton singer/songwriter composed a song on the subject Les Petits gardiens du feu. Gaumont filmed the medal-ceremony for Actualités (25 August edition) while this film appeared in October. The Kerdonis lighthouse is still there.
Review of Le gardien de phare
