Abstract: A device for driving the claw shaft of a motion picture camera, comprises an electric motor coupled to the claw shaft itself connected to said claw by a mechanism of the crank-connecting rod system type, for converting the movement of rotation of the electric motor into a movement of reciprocating translation.Means are provided for modulating the speed of rotation of the claw shaft as a function of the angle of rotation thereof with respect to a reference position, so that the speed of the claw at the moment of its engagement in a perforation of the film is as low as possible and that this speed then increases, during the descent of the film, according to a law such that the acceleration communicated to the film causes only a minimum stress exerted on said latter.