Cinematic pioneer Léonce Perret worked in many genres and was most famous in the early 1910s for his comedies, but The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador demonstrates his keen grasp of crime and melodrama. The central gambit is that the cinematograph can be a vehicle for psychotherapy and the awakening of repressed memories, and this is reinforced through subtle repetitions of gesture, composition, and lighting. Perret and cinematographer Georges Specht shot as much of the film as possible on location in Finistère, and they transform the rocky Breton seascape into an integral part of the psychological drama.