 It was perhaps symbolic that only seventeen days after the première of "L'Argent" this genuinely experimental use of integrated sound was superseded by the first showing in Paris of the first American sound film, "The Jazz Singer".L'Herbier's original cut of the film, which was shown to the press in December 1928, ran for about 200 minutes.During the latter stages of production, his relationship with Jean Sapène, his co-producer, had virtually broken down, and to his dismay he found that at the first public showing in January 1929, the film had been re-edited in places on Sapène's instructions and was now more than 30 minutes shorter.