A Hundred Years Ago 11 – Lost World / Farewell, Early Cinema!
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Neil Brand. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, on 3 July 2009.
From Mariann Lewinsky's introduction:
"Lost world: the sea lost its sails, the rivers their washerwomen, the fields their shade trees, the streets their animals and pedestrians, the humans their co-existence with livestock and the grown-ups their games with children".
Farewell, early cinema: soon the cinema would lose some genres characteristic to the first decade.
The féerie would disappear.
Films with sound on disc came to an abrupt end when at their peak, the reason being overproduction and a consequent collapse in price, with production costs exceeding sales revenue.
Oskar Messter, until then the major German producer, retired from the market in the autumn 1909.
Latham’s Machine Being Towed in after His Wonderful Flight on Oct 22nd [GB] 1909. 35mm. 50 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. - Ok print. - 2 min
Hunting Scenes. [DE 1909]. 35mm. 76 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. - Low contrast print. - Dullish. - 4 min
En Camargue – Course de taureaux à Saintes Maries / A Bull Fight. FR 1909 ; PC: Pathé 35mm. 102 m. B&w. English intertitles. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. - Bull fight without killing. - 6 min
Un monsieur qui a mangé du taureau. FR 1909. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 180 m. B&w. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. - Good image in the print - Fiction: comedy. - Les effets de la viande du taureau - Having eaten good beef the man attacks a woman like a bull - Matadors are alerted - A funny telegraph sequence, with the text of the message on the image - too repetitious - 11 min
Kobenhavn i sne / Eine Groszstadt in Schnee. DK 1909. PC: Nordisk. 35mm. 96 m. Deutsche Zwischentitel. B&w. From: BFINA - Non-fiction - beautiful winter images - skating on long skateways in the city - Alberti collects money for the unemployed - snow fight - 5 min
Un voyage à toute vapeur. NL 1909. 35mm. 62 m. Dutch intertitles. From: NFM. - Non-fiction. The print has a Dutch title. Sailing on an ocean liner in the grand style. 4 min
Comment se fait le fromage de Hollande / Herstellung von holländischer Käse. FR 1909. D: Alfred Machin. PC: Pathé 35mm. 200 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. Ok print. A good documentary about all the phases, from dog-driven carts to images of the greatest cheese markets.
[Collection de cartes postales]. FR 1908? PC: Pathé. 35mm. 112 m. B&w. English intertitles. BFINA. - Fiction. A variation of the popular subject of an illicit love affair being revealed via photography. The setting is on the beach, and the revelation takes place as the wife browses a funny set of holiday pictures at the postcart stand. 5 min
Le Philtre maudit. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 183 m. Pochoir. From: AFF/CNC. - Fiction, historical, 1480, with féerie and ballet elements. Beautiful print with pochoir colour. 9 min
Porcelaines tendres. FR 1909. D: Emile Cohl. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 65 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Animation. Porcelain figurines come to life. 4 min
Der Graf von Luxemburg – Mädel klein Mädel fein. AT 1909. M: Franz Lehar; SC: Alfred M. Willner; Testi: Robert Bodanzky; Conduzione: Franz Lehar; With: Louise Kartousch, Bernhard Bötel; Registrazione sonora: Gramophone, Vienna 16 novembre 1909. Fonoscena. Beta SP. Orig: 50 m. 5’. B&w. From: Filmarchiv Austria. - A charming phonoscene with the original music by Franz Lehar conducted by Lehar himself! 3 min
Schutzmann Lied aus Donnerwetter – Tadellos!. DE 1908. M: Paul Lincke; Testi: Julius Freund; Conduzione: Bruno Seidler-Winkler; Int: Henry Bender; PC: Messter; Registrazione sonora: Zonophon Fonoscena. Beta Sp. Orig: 48 m. 5’. B&w From: Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek. Digital reconstruction: Christian Zwarg. - Phonoscene. A boisterous, funny, parodic German "po-po-police" march, one of the funniest films of the festival. Sung by Henry Bender, accompanied by other marching police-clad fellows. "New insight into Kaiser Wilhelm's Berlin" (Mariann Lewinsky). 3 min
Showing posts with label Pathé. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pathé. Show all posts
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Cento anni fà 9 – Sogni, incubi e censura
A Hundred Years Ago 9 – Dreams, Nightmares, and Censorship.
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Mariann Lewinsky e Donald Sosin. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 2 July 2009.
Prima parte: Invisibile – Visibile / First Part: Invisible – Visible
Le Voleur invisible. FR 1909. D: Segundo de Chomón. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 104 m. B&w. From: Lobster Films. - Ok print. - A fine and funny trick comedy based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Only the clothes make the hero visible. The policemen are baffled at his escape from his clothes. 6 min. *
Rêve d’une féministe. FR 1909. PC: Pathé [2643]. 35mm. 110 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Farce, satire. - An incomplete print from damaged material. - Buxomy heroine participates at an emancipatory congress. Members of the Femina Club beat up a male doll and then the women attack a man together. The man is made to wash the dishes. 4 min.
La Mort du Duc d’Enghien en 1804. FR 1909. D: Albert Capellani. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 275 m. B&w. From: Cin. fr. - Historical drama. - Brilliant print based on a nitrate negative. - Fine composition, fine sense of the image, fine sense of movement. - On the orders of Napoleon, the Duke of Enghien is abducted from his exile in Baden, court-martialled and executed in Vincennes in 1804. - His faithful dog follows him to the grave. - 15 min
[Le] Chien jaloux. FR 1909. PC: Gaumont [2304]. 35mm. 183 m. 6’40’’ a 24 fps. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Drama. The dog is jealous of the attention given to the child. The dog causes a fire but rescues the child from it. - 7 min
La Lampe. FR 1909. PC: Pathé [3244]. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy about the transportation of a lamp. - Magic tricks such as being flattened under a steamroller and being pumped back to life by a passing cyclist. - 4 min
Seconda parte: Empatia fisica e repulsione / Second Part: Empathy and Repulsion
Comme on se rencontre. FR 1909. PC: Pathé Frères. 35mm. 100 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: Cineteca di Bologna. - A farce. - Ok quality of image, based on 28 mm material. - Face being cut by a barber's knife. - 6 min
La Cinématographie des microbes. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 180 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. - A good print. - Rat tests, samples from the tail. - Footage through the microscope on microbes. - No music during this film: good. - 5 min
Le Moulin maudit / The Mill. FR 1909. D: Alfred Machin. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 130 m. Col. English intertitles. From: Cin. fr. Restored by AFF/CNC. - Tragedy, cruel revenge bordering on horror. - Subtle colour. - Johanna decides to marry the wealthy miller in preference to Wilhelm. Wilhelm visits the miller's wife. - A triangle drama. The husband catches the couple in flagranti. His revenge: he ties Wilhelm to the wing of the mill and his wife to a tree. He gets mad and jumps into the river. 9 min
Chasse à la panthère. FR 1909. D: Alfred Machin. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 131 m. Pochoir. From: Cineteca di Bologna. - Non-fiction. - A brilliant print with very effective colour. - A trap to the panther. The panther gets caught and is shot. - Not a particularly brave hunt. - The panther's jaws are opened, it is carried on a pole, and skinned. 8 min
NOT SHOWN: [Industrie de la peau des serpents au Java. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 152 m. From: Archives Gaumont-Pathé]
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Mariann Lewinsky e Donald Sosin. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 2 July 2009.
Prima parte: Invisibile – Visibile / First Part: Invisible – Visible
Le Voleur invisible. FR 1909. D: Segundo de Chomón. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 104 m. B&w. From: Lobster Films. - Ok print. - A fine and funny trick comedy based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Only the clothes make the hero visible. The policemen are baffled at his escape from his clothes. 6 min. *
Rêve d’une féministe. FR 1909. PC: Pathé [2643]. 35mm. 110 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Farce, satire. - An incomplete print from damaged material. - Buxomy heroine participates at an emancipatory congress. Members of the Femina Club beat up a male doll and then the women attack a man together. The man is made to wash the dishes. 4 min.
La Mort du Duc d’Enghien en 1804. FR 1909. D: Albert Capellani. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 275 m. B&w. From: Cin. fr. - Historical drama. - Brilliant print based on a nitrate negative. - Fine composition, fine sense of the image, fine sense of movement. - On the orders of Napoleon, the Duke of Enghien is abducted from his exile in Baden, court-martialled and executed in Vincennes in 1804. - His faithful dog follows him to the grave. - 15 min
[Le] Chien jaloux. FR 1909. PC: Gaumont [2304]. 35mm. 183 m. 6’40’’ a 24 fps. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Drama. The dog is jealous of the attention given to the child. The dog causes a fire but rescues the child from it. - 7 min
La Lampe. FR 1909. PC: Pathé [3244]. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy about the transportation of a lamp. - Magic tricks such as being flattened under a steamroller and being pumped back to life by a passing cyclist. - 4 min
Seconda parte: Empatia fisica e repulsione / Second Part: Empathy and Repulsion
Comme on se rencontre. FR 1909. PC: Pathé Frères. 35mm. 100 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: Cineteca di Bologna. - A farce. - Ok quality of image, based on 28 mm material. - Face being cut by a barber's knife. - 6 min
La Cinématographie des microbes. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 180 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction. - A good print. - Rat tests, samples from the tail. - Footage through the microscope on microbes. - No music during this film: good. - 5 min
Le Moulin maudit / The Mill. FR 1909. D: Alfred Machin. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 130 m. Col. English intertitles. From: Cin. fr. Restored by AFF/CNC. - Tragedy, cruel revenge bordering on horror. - Subtle colour. - Johanna decides to marry the wealthy miller in preference to Wilhelm. Wilhelm visits the miller's wife. - A triangle drama. The husband catches the couple in flagranti. His revenge: he ties Wilhelm to the wing of the mill and his wife to a tree. He gets mad and jumps into the river. 9 min
Chasse à la panthère. FR 1909. D: Alfred Machin. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 131 m. Pochoir. From: Cineteca di Bologna. - Non-fiction. - A brilliant print with very effective colour. - A trap to the panther. The panther gets caught and is shot. - Not a particularly brave hunt. - The panther's jaws are opened, it is carried on a pole, and skinned. 8 min
NOT SHOWN: [Industrie de la peau des serpents au Java. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 152 m. From: Archives Gaumont-Pathé]
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Cento anni fà 7 – Il passato è una paese straniero
A Hundred Years Ago 7 – The Past Is a Foreign Country.
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky e Hiroshi Komatsu. Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière, 1 July 2009.
The global view a hundred years ago. Filmed journeys were very popular before the age of mass tourism. The films were also documents of colonialism. In Japan the survival rate of early cinema is close to zero, but some rarities exist.
[NOT SHOWN: Nationale stoet ter verheerlijking vande inlijving van Congo bij België Antwerp (6.6.1909). BG 1909. 16mm. 60 m. B&w. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique]
Au Maroc: Tanger. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Non-fiction, transporting cattle by boat, black workers. Good print.
Dans l’Afrique mystérieuse. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 135 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction, black muslims bowing towards the Mecca, a black tribe armed with spears, gathering cocoanuts from the trees, transport by camels. Ok print.
Récolte, manipulation et exportation du café / Der Aufbruch zur Ernte. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Marks of water damage in the original material. - Non-fiction, fascinating, in the jungle, all the phases of the production of coffee from the jungle to the coffee being served to a lady.
Tame Animals at Work / Wunder der Dressur. GB 1909. PC: Cricks and Martin. 35mm. 117 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Print from damaged original material, titles missing. - At work: the pig, the camel, the dromedary, riding the ostrich, cattle, the zebra, the donkey, the horse, the yak, the lama.
ADDED: D'ou viennent les faux cheveux. FR 1909. Tinted. From: AFF/CNC. All the phases of the fabrication of a wig. Women's hair is cut, washed, sorted out, etc.
Revolución de Mayo. AR 1909. D: Mario Gallo. PC: Mario Gallo; 35mm [frammento]. ca. 75 m. B&w. From: Cinemateca Argentina. - This restoration reduced to be screenable on a widescreen format. - See my note from May 2009 in Buenos Aires.
Grande fête du cinquantenaire de Yokohama. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 83 m. Pochoir. From: BFINA. - From damaged material. - A parade film with archers and geishas.
Otello. IT 1909. D: Gerolamo Lo Savio. B.o. William Shakespeare. PC: Film d’Arte Italiana. 35mm. 228 m. Pochoir. English intertitles. From: National Film Center Tokyo, Komiya Collection. - A good print with fascinating colour and original intertitles. - Stately but not touching. - Reportedly the only surviving material of this film.
Asagao nikki / [Diary of a Morning Glory]. JP 1909. D: Shokichi Umeya. PC: M. Pathé. 16mm. ca. 60 m. B&w. From: Waseda University Tokyo. - From Hiroshi Komatsu's introduction: in Japan, the name Pathé was synonymous with the cinema, and that is why a Japanese company was named M. Pathé, although it had nothing to do with Charles Pathé. - A famous short story was the basis for a kabuki play and a puppet play. It is the tragedy of one who becomes blind. Rarely all acts are played. - [In the 1960s?] a 35mm nitrate print was found, a 16mm print was produced, and the nitrate was thrown away. In Bologna, the film is shown to a general audience for the first time in almost one hundred years. - Filmed kabuki theatre with long takes and long shots. The image is badly damaged.
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky e Hiroshi Komatsu. Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière, 1 July 2009.
The global view a hundred years ago. Filmed journeys were very popular before the age of mass tourism. The films were also documents of colonialism. In Japan the survival rate of early cinema is close to zero, but some rarities exist.
[NOT SHOWN: Nationale stoet ter verheerlijking vande inlijving van Congo bij België Antwerp (6.6.1909). BG 1909. 16mm. 60 m. B&w. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique]
Au Maroc: Tanger. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Non-fiction, transporting cattle by boat, black workers. Good print.
Dans l’Afrique mystérieuse. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 135 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Non-fiction, black muslims bowing towards the Mecca, a black tribe armed with spears, gathering cocoanuts from the trees, transport by camels. Ok print.
Récolte, manipulation et exportation du café / Der Aufbruch zur Ernte. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Marks of water damage in the original material. - Non-fiction, fascinating, in the jungle, all the phases of the production of coffee from the jungle to the coffee being served to a lady.
Tame Animals at Work / Wunder der Dressur. GB 1909. PC: Cricks and Martin. 35mm. 117 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Print from damaged original material, titles missing. - At work: the pig, the camel, the dromedary, riding the ostrich, cattle, the zebra, the donkey, the horse, the yak, the lama.
ADDED: D'ou viennent les faux cheveux. FR 1909. Tinted. From: AFF/CNC. All the phases of the fabrication of a wig. Women's hair is cut, washed, sorted out, etc.
Revolución de Mayo. AR 1909. D: Mario Gallo. PC: Mario Gallo; 35mm [frammento]. ca. 75 m. B&w. From: Cinemateca Argentina. - This restoration reduced to be screenable on a widescreen format. - See my note from May 2009 in Buenos Aires.
Grande fête du cinquantenaire de Yokohama. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 83 m. Pochoir. From: BFINA. - From damaged material. - A parade film with archers and geishas.
Otello. IT 1909. D: Gerolamo Lo Savio. B.o. William Shakespeare. PC: Film d’Arte Italiana. 35mm. 228 m. Pochoir. English intertitles. From: National Film Center Tokyo, Komiya Collection. - A good print with fascinating colour and original intertitles. - Stately but not touching. - Reportedly the only surviving material of this film.
Asagao nikki / [Diary of a Morning Glory]. JP 1909. D: Shokichi Umeya. PC: M. Pathé. 16mm. ca. 60 m. B&w. From: Waseda University Tokyo. - From Hiroshi Komatsu's introduction: in Japan, the name Pathé was synonymous with the cinema, and that is why a Japanese company was named M. Pathé, although it had nothing to do with Charles Pathé. - A famous short story was the basis for a kabuki play and a puppet play. It is the tragedy of one who becomes blind. Rarely all acts are played. - [In the 1960s?] a 35mm nitrate print was found, a 16mm print was produced, and the nitrate was thrown away. In Bologna, the film is shown to a general audience for the first time in almost one hundred years. - Filmed kabuki theatre with long takes and long shots. The image is badly damaged.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Cento anni fà 5 – Un cinema di distrazione
A Hundred Years Ago 5 – A Cinema of Distractions.
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 30 June 2009.
- the incidental, the accidental, the providential, the passer-by, the stray dog
- the transitional zone between fiction and non-fiction
- the feeling of real presence (Bela Balazs)
- the cinema of distractions (Luke McKernan)
Cinema – Città – Affinità / Cinema – City – Affinity
Street Scenes in Saarbrücken. DE 1909. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 35mm. 101 m. B&w. From: BFINA. Non-fiction. Beautiful definition of light. The traffic, the passants, the phantom ride. 5 min
Quattro film Lux / Four Lux Productions
Souvenirs de Paris. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 85 m. B&w. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. - Fiction. From worn material with a good definition of light. A lively account of family life. The father's gifts waken to life: the objects portray living images. 5 min. *
L’Enlèvement. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 109 m. Col. English intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy. The young lover kidnaps accidentally his mother-in-law instead of his bride. 7 min. *
Le Pneu Machin boit l’obstacle. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 73 m. Col. English intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - A crazy comedy. The automobile the touch of which can make anything disappear. The automobile ivre. 4 min. *
Les Tribulations d’un charcutier. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 77 m. B&w. From: Cin. fr. Restored by AFF/CNC. - Print dim, bad contrast. A farce about sausages, slapstick. 5 min. *
Distrazioni e sorprese / Distractions and Surprises
La Possession de l’enfant. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 230 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - A brilliant print, but intertitles missing. - A noble composition. - The art of noble pantomime. - The fight over the custody of the child. 13 min. *
La Fée des grèves. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 148 m. Pochoir. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: AFF/CNC. - A somewhat low contrast print. - A historical costume drama and féerie. The story of the mermaid who wants to return to the sea. The man follows after her. Fantasmagoria in the style of Méliès. The maids are well clothed. 8 min
La Bouée. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 137 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Deutsche Zwischentitel. From worn material with signs of damage. - A baby is found in the sea. Sold at auction. But there is money in the life buoy. 7 min
Un mariage en Auvergne. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 85 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Non-fiction. Traditional instruments and dances. 5 min.
XV. Eidgen. Musikfest in Basel. DE 1909. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 35mm. 131 m. B&w.From: Cinémathèque Suisse. - Non-fiction: parade, boring, the spectacers react to the camera and make faces. 8 min
Film ist. 7-12. AT 2002. D+SC+ED: Gustav Deutsch. Research: Gustav Deutsch, Hanna Schimek; M: Werner Dafeldecker, Christian Fennesz, Martin Siewert, Burkhardt Stangl; PC: Loop Media, in collaborazione con CNC, Cinemateca Portuguesa, Cineteca di Bologna, Filmarchiv Austria, NFM. Extract from Chapter 12. 35mm. 5’. Col. From: sixpackfilm. - Maybe due to the delays in the schedule only 1 min 35 seconds of Gustav Deutsch's masterpiece were shown.
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 30 June 2009.
- the incidental, the accidental, the providential, the passer-by, the stray dog
- the transitional zone between fiction and non-fiction
- the feeling of real presence (Bela Balazs)
- the cinema of distractions (Luke McKernan)
Cinema – Città – Affinità / Cinema – City – Affinity
Street Scenes in Saarbrücken. DE 1909. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 35mm. 101 m. B&w. From: BFINA. Non-fiction. Beautiful definition of light. The traffic, the passants, the phantom ride. 5 min
Quattro film Lux / Four Lux Productions
Souvenirs de Paris. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 85 m. B&w. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. - Fiction. From worn material with a good definition of light. A lively account of family life. The father's gifts waken to life: the objects portray living images. 5 min. *
L’Enlèvement. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 109 m. Col. English intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy. The young lover kidnaps accidentally his mother-in-law instead of his bride. 7 min. *
Le Pneu Machin boit l’obstacle. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 73 m. Col. English intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - A crazy comedy. The automobile the touch of which can make anything disappear. The automobile ivre. 4 min. *
Les Tribulations d’un charcutier. FR 1909. PC: Lux. 35mm. 77 m. B&w. From: Cin. fr. Restored by AFF/CNC. - Print dim, bad contrast. A farce about sausages, slapstick. 5 min. *
Distrazioni e sorprese / Distractions and Surprises
La Possession de l’enfant. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 230 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: AFF/CNC. - A brilliant print, but intertitles missing. - A noble composition. - The art of noble pantomime. - The fight over the custody of the child. 13 min. *
La Fée des grèves. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 148 m. Pochoir. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: AFF/CNC. - A somewhat low contrast print. - A historical costume drama and féerie. The story of the mermaid who wants to return to the sea. The man follows after her. Fantasmagoria in the style of Méliès. The maids are well clothed. 8 min
La Bouée. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 137 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Deutsche Zwischentitel. From worn material with signs of damage. - A baby is found in the sea. Sold at auction. But there is money in the life buoy. 7 min
Un mariage en Auvergne. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 85 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Non-fiction. Traditional instruments and dances. 5 min.
XV. Eidgen. Musikfest in Basel. DE 1909. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 35mm. 131 m. B&w.From: Cinémathèque Suisse. - Non-fiction: parade, boring, the spectacers react to the camera and make faces. 8 min
Film ist. 7-12. AT 2002. D+SC+ED: Gustav Deutsch. Research: Gustav Deutsch, Hanna Schimek; M: Werner Dafeldecker, Christian Fennesz, Martin Siewert, Burkhardt Stangl; PC: Loop Media, in collaborazione con CNC, Cinemateca Portuguesa, Cineteca di Bologna, Filmarchiv Austria, NFM. Extract from Chapter 12. 35mm. 5’. Col. From: sixpackfilm. - Maybe due to the delays in the schedule only 1 min 35 seconds of Gustav Deutsch's masterpiece were shown.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Cento anni fà 4 – La Film d'Art nel 1909
A Hundred Years Ago 4 – Film d'Art in 1909.
Presentano Béatrice de Pastre (CNC), XX (male), and Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Maud Nelissen. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2009.
Film d'Art:
- great themes from Homer, the Bible, and the opera
- the search for high quality
- the search for a visual language for the cinema
Le Retour d’Ulysse. FR 1909. D: André Calmettes, Charles Le Bargy. Based on Ulysses by Homer. SC: Jules Lemaître; M: Georges Huë; CAST: Julia Bartet (Penelope), Albert Lambert (Antinous), Paul Mounet (Ulysse), Louis Delaunay (il sacerdote); PC: Pathé; 35mm. 320 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Reportedly blown up from Pathé-Baby, amazing visual quality if that is true. - Penelope weaves her tapestry and tears it secretly to postpone the attentions of her suitors. Penelope's dream. The rivals destroy mementi of Ulysses. 11 min
L’Enfant prodigue. FR 1909. D: Georges Berr. SC: Henri Lavedan; DP: Lucien Jusseaume, Floury; CAST: Eugène Silvain (il padre di famiglia), René Alexandre (il figlio maggiore), Jean Dehelly (il figlio prodigo), i ballerini de l’Opéra, PC: Pathé; 35mm. 246 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Biblical epic. Three colours. 13 min
Mireille. FR 1909. D: Henri Cain. Based on the long poem Mirèio (1859) by Frédéric Mistral; Op.: Hérault e Nedelec per le scene girate ad Arles; LOC: Arles. CAST: M.lle Didier (Mireille), Roger Karl (Vincent), Jaegger (Maître Ramon); PC: Pathé; 35mm. 165 m. From: AFF/CNC.- A nest in the mulberry tree predicts a marriage within the year. Tragedy: the woman falls ill. Ok print. 9 min
Une conquête. FR 1909. D: Charles Decroix. SC: Charles Decroix; CAST: Max Linder (Gontran), M.me Frémeaux; PC: Pathé; 35mm. 130 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy. Max Linder is the indefatigable ladies' man to whom accumulate handkerchiefs, flowers, statuettes, and dogs as he tries to please the lady who is on her way to meet her husband. 8 min *
Moines et guerriers. FR 1909. CAST: Pauline (Emilie) Polaire, Jacques Volnys, Georges Colin, Julien Clément, Léonie Richard; PC: Pathé; 35mm. 200 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Siège de Saragosse, 1808. Shot on location. A historical military subject from Napoleon's wars. The soldiers by the monastery, the grim revenge. Print ok, somewhat low contrast.
Presentano Béatrice de Pastre (CNC), XX (male), and Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Maud Nelissen. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2009.
Film d'Art:
- great themes from Homer, the Bible, and the opera
- the search for high quality
- the search for a visual language for the cinema
Le Retour d’Ulysse. FR 1909. D: André Calmettes, Charles Le Bargy. Based on Ulysses by Homer. SC: Jules Lemaître; M: Georges Huë; CAST: Julia Bartet (Penelope), Albert Lambert (Antinous), Paul Mounet (Ulysse), Louis Delaunay (il sacerdote); PC: Pathé; 35mm. 320 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Reportedly blown up from Pathé-Baby, amazing visual quality if that is true. - Penelope weaves her tapestry and tears it secretly to postpone the attentions of her suitors. Penelope's dream. The rivals destroy mementi of Ulysses. 11 min
L’Enfant prodigue. FR 1909. D: Georges Berr. SC: Henri Lavedan; DP: Lucien Jusseaume, Floury; CAST: Eugène Silvain (il padre di famiglia), René Alexandre (il figlio maggiore), Jean Dehelly (il figlio prodigo), i ballerini de l’Opéra, PC: Pathé; 35mm. 246 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Biblical epic. Three colours. 13 min
Mireille. FR 1909. D: Henri Cain. Based on the long poem Mirèio (1859) by Frédéric Mistral; Op.: Hérault e Nedelec per le scene girate ad Arles; LOC: Arles. CAST: M.lle Didier (Mireille), Roger Karl (Vincent), Jaegger (Maître Ramon); PC: Pathé; 35mm. 165 m. From: AFF/CNC.- A nest in the mulberry tree predicts a marriage within the year. Tragedy: the woman falls ill. Ok print. 9 min
Une conquête. FR 1909. D: Charles Decroix. SC: Charles Decroix; CAST: Max Linder (Gontran), M.me Frémeaux; PC: Pathé; 35mm. 130 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Comedy. Max Linder is the indefatigable ladies' man to whom accumulate handkerchiefs, flowers, statuettes, and dogs as he tries to please the lady who is on her way to meet her husband. 8 min *
Moines et guerriers. FR 1909. CAST: Pauline (Emilie) Polaire, Jacques Volnys, Georges Colin, Julien Clément, Léonie Richard; PC: Pathé; 35mm. 200 m. From: AFF/CNC. - Siège de Saragosse, 1808. Shot on location. A historical military subject from Napoleon's wars. The soldiers by the monastery, the grim revenge. Print ok, somewhat low contrast.
Cento anni fà 3 – Pronti per il lungometraggio
A Hundred Years Ago 3 – Coming Attraction: Feature Length
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand Piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed at Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2009.
- The first French feature film according to Henri Bousquet: L'Assommoir, 40 min. A complete print that has recently surfaced in Belgium was screened.
Roman d’une bottine et d’un escarpin. FR 1909. D: Georges Monca. CAST: Georges Tréville, Suzanne Demay; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 170 m. English intertitles. B&w. From: BFINA. - The meeting of the shoes tells the love story. Partially a good definition of light.
Les deux devoirs / Berufspflicht. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 172 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: AFF/CNC. - The calling of the doctor. The demonstration. Partially a good definition of light. 10 min.
Roman d’une écuyère / Der abgewiesene Verehrer. FR 1909. D: Camille de Morlhon. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 240 m. Tinted. From: NFM. - Deutsche Zwischentitel. The circus world: the husband is a clown, the wife is an acrobatic rider. Of course there is the triangle drama, the clown falls from the trapeze, falls into the gutter, takes care of the child, but the wife begs to return. 13 min.
Une corderie / Seilerei. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 82 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: BFINA. - Fascinating non-fiction of the many phases of producing rope. 5 min. *
L’Assommoir. FR 1909. D: Albert Capellani. Based on the novel by Emile Zola (1877); SC: Albert Capellani, Michel Carré; CAST: Eugène Nau (Gervaise), Catherine Fontenay (Virginie), Alexandre Arquillière (Coupeau), Jacques Grétillaat (Lantier); PC: S.C.A.G.L. – Pathé. 35mm. 740 m. B&w. From: Archives Gaumont-Pathé. - A fascinating discovery. Interesting visual space, full of life, lively tableaux. - The women's fight in the laundry. The wedding in 1872 (Gervaise, Coupeau). - Excellent cinematography. - The jealous Virginie sets the trap for Coupeau at the scaffold of the building site. - During his long invalid period Coupeau becomes an alcoholist. - A fine dinner banquet scene. - Virginie revenges by fuelling Coupeau's alcohol addiction. - Coupeau loses the wager on strong drink at the tavern. The fight over the woman. - Coupeau is hospitalized, and is forbidden to drink strong alcohol. Virginie's last revenge leads to an extended danse macabre. - This episodic film, based on tableaux, follows reportedly the popular theatre adaption of the grim novel. 40 min. *
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand Piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed at Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2009.
- The first French feature film according to Henri Bousquet: L'Assommoir, 40 min. A complete print that has recently surfaced in Belgium was screened.
Roman d’une bottine et d’un escarpin. FR 1909. D: Georges Monca. CAST: Georges Tréville, Suzanne Demay; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 170 m. English intertitles. B&w. From: BFINA. - The meeting of the shoes tells the love story. Partially a good definition of light.
Les deux devoirs / Berufspflicht. FR 1909. D: Louis Feuillade. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 172 m. B&w. Deutsche Zwischentitel. From: AFF/CNC. - The calling of the doctor. The demonstration. Partially a good definition of light. 10 min.
Roman d’une écuyère / Der abgewiesene Verehrer. FR 1909. D: Camille de Morlhon. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 240 m. Tinted. From: NFM. - Deutsche Zwischentitel. The circus world: the husband is a clown, the wife is an acrobatic rider. Of course there is the triangle drama, the clown falls from the trapeze, falls into the gutter, takes care of the child, but the wife begs to return. 13 min.
Une corderie / Seilerei. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 82 m. B&w. No intertitles. From: BFINA. - Fascinating non-fiction of the many phases of producing rope. 5 min. *
L’Assommoir. FR 1909. D: Albert Capellani. Based on the novel by Emile Zola (1877); SC: Albert Capellani, Michel Carré; CAST: Eugène Nau (Gervaise), Catherine Fontenay (Virginie), Alexandre Arquillière (Coupeau), Jacques Grétillaat (Lantier); PC: S.C.A.G.L. – Pathé. 35mm. 740 m. B&w. From: Archives Gaumont-Pathé. - A fascinating discovery. Interesting visual space, full of life, lively tableaux. - The women's fight in the laundry. The wedding in 1872 (Gervaise, Coupeau). - Excellent cinematography. - The jealous Virginie sets the trap for Coupeau at the scaffold of the building site. - During his long invalid period Coupeau becomes an alcoholist. - A fine dinner banquet scene. - Virginie revenges by fuelling Coupeau's alcohol addiction. - Coupeau loses the wager on strong drink at the tavern. The fight over the woman. - Coupeau is hospitalized, and is forbidden to drink strong alcohol. Virginie's last revenge leads to an extended danse macabre. - This episodic film, based on tableaux, follows reportedly the popular theatre adaption of the grim novel. 40 min. *
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Cento anni fà 2 – Che c'è di nuovo nel 1909: Cinegiornali! Ballets Russes! Cretinetti!
A Hundred Years Ago 2 – What's New In 1909: Newsreels! Ballets Russes! Cretinetti!
Presenta: Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 28 June 2009.
- The Centenary of the newsreel (Pathé Journal)
- The only moving image records of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in their first Paris season in 1909.
- The first aerial films
- Marinetti's Futurist manifesto in February 1909 celebrated with the film of The Electric Policeman
- Maria Montessori's Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica (1909) celebrated with films about children
- James Joyce's Volta Cinema in Dublin opened in Dublin in 1909; among the films shown was Une pouponnière
- The Centenary of the film star: Cretinetti (Max Linder, Sarah Duhamel, and Stacia Napierkowska were to be credited by name later)
- The Centenary of the film diva: Stacia Napierkowska
Prima stagione dei Ballets Russes a Parigi / First Paris season of the Ballets Russes
La Danse du flambeau. FR 1909 D: Jules de Froberville. With: Tamara Karsavina; PC: Les Films du Lion. 35mm. 31 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Doc. A fine print, an impressive ballet performance, of the first filmed records of Ballets Russes. *
Pas-de-deux et soli. FR 1909. D: Jules de Froberville. With: Alexandra Baldina, Theodore Kosloff; PC: Les Films du Lion 35mm. 86 m. B&w From: AFF/CNC. - Doc. Two great ballet numbers, first a valse caprice for two, and then a solo number, ?by Nijinsky?.
Aviazione e cinegiornale / Aviation and newsreels
Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine. FR 1909. PC: Eclipse. 35mm. 73 m. B&w. From: Filmarchiv Austria. - Doc. Ok actuality. Pretty low contrast.
Blériot traverse la Manche (25.7.1909). FR 1909. Blériot Crosses the Channel; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 110 m. B&w. English intertitles. From: BFINA. - Doc. Ok actuality.
Les Surprises de l’aviation. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 161 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Fiction, wild and crazy comedy with an Eiffel Tower hijack. Ok print. *
Fait divers / Miscellaneous
Une pouponnière / Kinderbewahranstalt. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm [frammento]. 45 m. B&w. From: BFINA. Doc about a nursery, a print from deteriorating material, incomplete.
Concorso di bellezza fra bambini a Torino / Kinder tendoorstelling. IT 1909. PC: Aquila Films. 35mm. 66 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Doc from a childen's beauty contest. Print partly beautiful, partly from deteriorating material. Expressive medium shots of faces.
The Electric Policeman. FR 1909. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Fiction, comedy. Ok print. Due to electricity, the policeman becomes tireless in the chase, his feet continuing to move even when he is upside down in the river.
Star di Cinema / Movie Stars
Cretinetti paga i debiti / How Foolshead Pays His Debts. IT 1909. CAST: André Deed; PC: Itala-Film. 35mm. 154 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - A comedy with tricks in the Méliès style. Ok print. *
Une femme doit suivre son mari. FR 1909. CAST: Sarah Duhamel; PC: Gaumont. 35 mm. 115 m. Tinted. From: AFF/CNC. - Ok print. A police comedy.
Amoureux de la femme à barbe. FR 1909. CAST: Max Linder; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Here I lost my attention.
La Fable de Psyche. FR 1909. CAST: Stacia Napierkowska; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 108 m. Pochoir. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. - The great dancing star.
Dans l’Hellade. FR 1909. CAST: Stacia Napierkowska; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 74 m. B&w. From: NFM. - The great dancing star. Ok, somewhat low contrast print.
Presenta: Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 28 June 2009.
- The Centenary of the newsreel (Pathé Journal)
- The only moving image records of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in their first Paris season in 1909.
- The first aerial films
- Marinetti's Futurist manifesto in February 1909 celebrated with the film of The Electric Policeman
- Maria Montessori's Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica (1909) celebrated with films about children
- James Joyce's Volta Cinema in Dublin opened in Dublin in 1909; among the films shown was Une pouponnière
- The Centenary of the film star: Cretinetti (Max Linder, Sarah Duhamel, and Stacia Napierkowska were to be credited by name later)
- The Centenary of the film diva: Stacia Napierkowska
Prima stagione dei Ballets Russes a Parigi / First Paris season of the Ballets Russes
La Danse du flambeau. FR 1909 D: Jules de Froberville. With: Tamara Karsavina; PC: Les Films du Lion. 35mm. 31 m. B&w. From: AFF/CNC. - Doc. A fine print, an impressive ballet performance, of the first filmed records of Ballets Russes. *
Pas-de-deux et soli. FR 1909. D: Jules de Froberville. With: Alexandra Baldina, Theodore Kosloff; PC: Les Films du Lion 35mm. 86 m. B&w From: AFF/CNC. - Doc. Two great ballet numbers, first a valse caprice for two, and then a solo number, ?by Nijinsky?.
Aviazione e cinegiornale / Aviation and newsreels
Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine. FR 1909. PC: Eclipse. 35mm. 73 m. B&w. From: Filmarchiv Austria. - Doc. Ok actuality. Pretty low contrast.
Blériot traverse la Manche (25.7.1909). FR 1909. Blériot Crosses the Channel; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 110 m. B&w. English intertitles. From: BFINA. - Doc. Ok actuality.
Les Surprises de l’aviation. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm. 161 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Fiction, wild and crazy comedy with an Eiffel Tower hijack. Ok print. *
Fait divers / Miscellaneous
Une pouponnière / Kinderbewahranstalt. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 35mm [frammento]. 45 m. B&w. From: BFINA. Doc about a nursery, a print from deteriorating material, incomplete.
Concorso di bellezza fra bambini a Torino / Kinder tendoorstelling. IT 1909. PC: Aquila Films. 35mm. 66 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Doc from a childen's beauty contest. Print partly beautiful, partly from deteriorating material. Expressive medium shots of faces.
The Electric Policeman. FR 1909. PC: Gaumont. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - Fiction, comedy. Ok print. Due to electricity, the policeman becomes tireless in the chase, his feet continuing to move even when he is upside down in the river.
Star di Cinema / Movie Stars
Cretinetti paga i debiti / How Foolshead Pays His Debts. IT 1909. CAST: André Deed; PC: Itala-Film. 35mm. 154 m. B&w. From: BFINA. - A comedy with tricks in the Méliès style. Ok print. *
Une femme doit suivre son mari. FR 1909. CAST: Sarah Duhamel; PC: Gaumont. 35 mm. 115 m. Tinted. From: AFF/CNC. - Ok print. A police comedy.
Amoureux de la femme à barbe. FR 1909. CAST: Max Linder; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 120 m. B&w. From: NFM. - Here I lost my attention.
La Fable de Psyche. FR 1909. CAST: Stacia Napierkowska; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 108 m. Pochoir. From: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. - The great dancing star.
Dans l’Hellade. FR 1909. CAST: Stacia Napierkowska; PC: Pathé. 35mm. 74 m. B&w. From: NFM. - The great dancing star. Ok, somewhat low contrast print.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
BEFORE THE LONELY VILLA
Before The Lonely Villa: tracking down the origins of the telephone thriller and alternating editing and crosscutting / parallel editing.
E-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Stephen Horne, viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 8 October 2008.
The Lonely Villa. US 1909. PC: Biograph. D: D.W. Griffith; DP: G.W. Bitzer, Arthur Marvin; cast: David Miles (husband), Marion Leonard (wife), Mary Pickford (daughter), Gladys Egan, Adele De Garde, Owen Moore, Mack Sennett; 850 ft /16 fps/ 14 min; print: LoC. - Tom Gunning: "Mr. Cullison has responded to a false note telling him to meet his mother-in-law at the train station, and left his wife and daughters alone in their large country house. The note was sent by a gang of thieves to draw him out, and they have proceeded to burglarize the villa. The wife and daughters hear unexplained noises and discover the attempt to break into the house. At that very moment, the husband calls to say he has car trouble and learns of their plight. As he speaks to his wife, the burglars cut the telephone wires. Desperate, the husband enlists the aid of a policeman and, his car still out of commission, commandeers a gypsy wagon for a race to the rescue. Meanwhile, the burglars have broached the doorway and penetrated into the various rooms of the villa, and burst through the doors the wife has barricaded. They clear the last obstacle and are snatching the pearl necklace from Mrs. Cullison’s throat when the father arrives with the policeman and the family is saved." – Tom Gunning [DWG Project # 150]. - A brilliant image, no titles in this print.
Le Médecin du château / Der Arzt des Schlosses / The Physician of the Castle [GB] / A Narrow Escape [US]). FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: ?; 367 ft /16 fps/ 6 min; print source: BFINA / Josef Joye Collection. Deutsche Titel (in the beginning?), English titles (in the end?). - Not a top print but from a source with a good definition of light. - Henri Bousquet: "Dr. Amy is unexpectedly called to the castle by a message delivered by an unknown person. No sooner has he left than two thieves break into his house. The doctor’s wife seeks refuge in the study; from there she calls her husband by telephone. She piles some furniture against the door, well knowing that this will only briefly keep out the malefactors. But on receiving the call the doctor has leapt into his car and returns home at full speed. On the way he meets two game-keepers and takes them along with him. They arrive just as the two bandits enter the office. After a brief struggle they capture the two villains.” – Henri Bousquet (Catalogue Pathé)
Terrible angoisse. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Lucien Nonguet; 78 m /16 fps/ 4 min; print: AFF/CNC. - (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906): “A brilliant lawyer, on holiday, is suddenly called to the Palace of Justice. During his absence, burglars break into the house and the lawyer’s wife has only time to run to the telephone to call her husband. While she is telling him about the presence of the malefactors, they leap at her throat and strangle her, together with her little son. Hearing nothing from the other end of the phone line, the unhappy lawyer guesses what is happening, and, crazed with grief, rushes home; he throws himself upon the corpses of his beloved spouse and his child.” (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906). - AA: a soft image in this print (digimastered?).
The Watermelon Patch. US 1905. PC: Edison. D: Edwin S. Porter, Wallace McCutcheon [Sr.? Jr.?]; cast: Florence Auer?; 35mm, ?? ft., ?’ (16 fps); fonte copia/print source: Museum of Modern Art, New York. No intertitles. - André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier: "The Watermelon Patch contains one of the rare prototypes of cross-cutting (in early cinema). The film’s storyline can be summarized as follows: two whites chase a small group of blacks caught stealing watermelons from a field. The film’s action is so convoluted, and its narrative secondary to attraction to such a degree, that it is not easy to identify the alternating structure present in it. But this structure truly is present in the film, even if it is far from jumping out at us. Alternating editing is a discursive configuration whose minimal form is the recurrence of each term in two series. In other words, it is impossible to speak of alternating editing when only one of the terms recurs (A-B-A). At a minimum, it requires that each series recur (A-B-A-B). Cross-cutting, for its part, is only one of the forms of alternating editing within which series of events supposedly unfold simultaneously in the narrative universe suggested by the film. Thus, in our view, The Watermelon Patch is a true example of cross-cutting. (...) Here, then, is a film which demonstrates a degree of narrative planning and sophistication quite rare for 1905. It is the true prototype of cross-cutting, for which film historians of every generation have been searching for many years now. And it is the prototype of cross-cutting despite the fact that it is just as much a worthy representative of the paradigm of attraction." – André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier. - An important discovery in the research of alternating editing (montage alternant), and crosscutting or parallel editing (montage alterné) as illuminated in Gaudreault and Gauthier's essay in The Griffith Project 12 book. - Also a disturbingly racist film.
E-subtitles in Italian, grand piano: Stephen Horne, viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 8 October 2008.
The Lonely Villa. US 1909. PC: Biograph. D: D.W. Griffith; DP: G.W. Bitzer, Arthur Marvin; cast: David Miles (husband), Marion Leonard (wife), Mary Pickford (daughter), Gladys Egan, Adele De Garde, Owen Moore, Mack Sennett; 850 ft /16 fps/ 14 min; print: LoC. - Tom Gunning: "Mr. Cullison has responded to a false note telling him to meet his mother-in-law at the train station, and left his wife and daughters alone in their large country house. The note was sent by a gang of thieves to draw him out, and they have proceeded to burglarize the villa. The wife and daughters hear unexplained noises and discover the attempt to break into the house. At that very moment, the husband calls to say he has car trouble and learns of their plight. As he speaks to his wife, the burglars cut the telephone wires. Desperate, the husband enlists the aid of a policeman and, his car still out of commission, commandeers a gypsy wagon for a race to the rescue. Meanwhile, the burglars have broached the doorway and penetrated into the various rooms of the villa, and burst through the doors the wife has barricaded. They clear the last obstacle and are snatching the pearl necklace from Mrs. Cullison’s throat when the father arrives with the policeman and the family is saved." – Tom Gunning [DWG Project # 150]. - A brilliant image, no titles in this print.
Le Médecin du château / Der Arzt des Schlosses / The Physician of the Castle [GB] / A Narrow Escape [US]). FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: ?; 367 ft /16 fps/ 6 min; print source: BFINA / Josef Joye Collection. Deutsche Titel (in the beginning?), English titles (in the end?). - Not a top print but from a source with a good definition of light. - Henri Bousquet: "Dr. Amy is unexpectedly called to the castle by a message delivered by an unknown person. No sooner has he left than two thieves break into his house. The doctor’s wife seeks refuge in the study; from there she calls her husband by telephone. She piles some furniture against the door, well knowing that this will only briefly keep out the malefactors. But on receiving the call the doctor has leapt into his car and returns home at full speed. On the way he meets two game-keepers and takes them along with him. They arrive just as the two bandits enter the office. After a brief struggle they capture the two villains.” – Henri Bousquet (Catalogue Pathé)
Terrible angoisse. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Lucien Nonguet; 78 m /16 fps/ 4 min; print: AFF/CNC. - (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906): “A brilliant lawyer, on holiday, is suddenly called to the Palace of Justice. During his absence, burglars break into the house and the lawyer’s wife has only time to run to the telephone to call her husband. While she is telling him about the presence of the malefactors, they leap at her throat and strangle her, together with her little son. Hearing nothing from the other end of the phone line, the unhappy lawyer guesses what is happening, and, crazed with grief, rushes home; he throws himself upon the corpses of his beloved spouse and his child.” (Pathé catalogue supplement, March 1906). - AA: a soft image in this print (digimastered?).
The Watermelon Patch. US 1905. PC: Edison. D: Edwin S. Porter, Wallace McCutcheon [Sr.? Jr.?]; cast: Florence Auer?; 35mm, ?? ft., ?’ (16 fps); fonte copia/print source: Museum of Modern Art, New York. No intertitles. - André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier: "The Watermelon Patch contains one of the rare prototypes of cross-cutting (in early cinema). The film’s storyline can be summarized as follows: two whites chase a small group of blacks caught stealing watermelons from a field. The film’s action is so convoluted, and its narrative secondary to attraction to such a degree, that it is not easy to identify the alternating structure present in it. But this structure truly is present in the film, even if it is far from jumping out at us. Alternating editing is a discursive configuration whose minimal form is the recurrence of each term in two series. In other words, it is impossible to speak of alternating editing when only one of the terms recurs (A-B-A). At a minimum, it requires that each series recur (A-B-A-B). Cross-cutting, for its part, is only one of the forms of alternating editing within which series of events supposedly unfold simultaneously in the narrative universe suggested by the film. Thus, in our view, The Watermelon Patch is a true example of cross-cutting. (...) Here, then, is a film which demonstrates a degree of narrative planning and sophistication quite rare for 1905. It is the true prototype of cross-cutting, for which film historians of every generation have been searching for many years now. And it is the prototype of cross-cutting despite the fact that it is just as much a worthy representative of the paradigm of attraction." – André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier. - An important discovery in the research of alternating editing (montage alternant), and crosscutting or parallel editing (montage alterné) as illuminated in Gaudreault and Gauthier's essay in The Griffith Project 12 book. - Also a disturbingly racist film.
Monday, October 06, 2008
THE CORRICK COLLECTION 1
THE CORRICK COLLECTION 1. Viewed at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, 6 October 2008. Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau, e-subtitles in Italian.
[Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra]
GB 1902. 257 ft /16 fps/ .4’30”, (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #88), no intertitles. - Good print.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "The Corrick Family often opened their shows with a film depicting the reigning British monarchs, of which they had several in their collection. After a performance in India, one reviewer noted how these patriotic images, “At once aroused the loyal feelings of the whole assembly as they stood up while ‘the King’ was sung by the Corricks. The feelings thus aroused put the audience, particularly the Military element, in the best of humour and spirits which were maintained throughout the evening.” This three-shot film of the coronation parade of Edward VII and Alexandra, which took place on 9 August 1902, is undoubtedly one of the more spectacular views of the Royals shown during these concerts. The first shot shows the carriage passing by, attended by members of the nobility and soldiers of the realm. The next is a long shot of the procession as it makes its way through Whitehall, the background dominated by Canada’s contribution to the festivities, a large archway that proudly declares, “Canada – Britain’s Granary in War and Peace – God Bless Our King and Queen”. At first, the third shot seems similar to the first – soldiers and dignitaries passing by – but the camera is positioned closer to the action rather than above the crowd, and the expressions on the faces of spectators are more clearly visible as they look down the street in anticipation. When the royal carriage comes into view, it brings with it a treat: in the last few seconds of the film, the royal carriage, horses, flags, and guards have been hand-painted – bright orange and blue, vibrant red and yellow – a pleasing detail unexpected in a newsreel-style film such as this." – Leslie Anne Lewis
The Lost Child
US 1904. PC: Biograph. D: Wallace McCutcheon; DP: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Kathryn Osterman; 479 ft /16 fps/ 8 min, print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #66), no intertitles. - OK print
Leslie Anne Lewis: "A child left alone to play in the front yard crawls into the doghouse for a nap. His mother panics when she discovers he is missing, and begins searching frantically for the child. Spying a passer-by with a large basket, she assumes he has kidnapped the baby and so sets off in hot pursuit. In typical chase-comedy fashion, the hapless man is pursued across the countryside by a mob which swells with each passing shot – adding, among others, a policeman, a man being pushed in a wheelchair, a one-legged boy, and an entire family of farmers. After finally catching the man, the crowd watches the policeman reach into the man’s basket and pull out... a large guinea pig. Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the trouble he’s caused, the child awakens from his afternoon slumber. Biograph advertisements claimed that The Lost Child was based on a recent event in Brooklyn, New York. Though details of that case remain shrouded in mystery, one would assume that the guinea pig was purely a construct of the filmmaker’s imagination." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A wild escalation.
Marie-Antoinette
FR 1903. PC: Pathé. 516 ft /16 fps/ 8’30” (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #41). English intertitles. - A fine print, effective colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Depictions of the lives of historical figures could provide a dash of legitimacy to a programme often filled with chase comedies and trick films. This 9-part tableau-style historical drama features scenes in the life of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, from lavish parties at Versailles to her trial and imprisonment, and finally the slow march to the guillotine. Missing is the coup de grâce, the execution of the Queen by Revolutionaries; however, a shot showing the prisoner being taunted by a severed head on a pole stuck through her cell window adds a bit of gruesome zip to this film touted as “educational” by both the Corricks and reviewers." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - An impressive history lesson with some blunt cuts: from the merry frolick to the taking of the Bastille.
Toto exploite la curiosité
Ralph Benefits by People’s Curiosity. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 274 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #93), no intertitles. - A beautiful print. - Leslie Anne Lewis: "Toto (or Ralph, in this English-titled version) uses a kaleidoscope to supplement his family’s meagre income by charging passers-by for a peek into the optical toy. The narrative, however, is chiefly an excuse to feature the brilliantly colored geometric designs of the kaleidoscope as they shift from one hue to the next. The precisely stenciled blues, greens, reds, and yellows seen in the Corricks’ print are bright and vivid, the dyes seemingly unfaded in the century since their application at the Pathé factory. Only briefly glimpsed in this print, the Pathé logo included with this film is unusual and specific to the subject: a kaleidoscopic view of Pathé’s trademark rooster shown in varying shades of red." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A beautiful film bordering on the experimental with its kaleidoscope effects. Lively street scenes.
La Vie indigène au Soudan égyptien
Native Life in Egyptian Sudan. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 404 ft /16 fps/ 7 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #75), no intertitles. - Suffering from decomposition of the nitrate original, yet with beautiful definition of light wherever the image is intact.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Rather than repeating the typical views of ancient pyramids, temples, and the Sphinx that had traditionally defined “Egypt” in the minds of Westerners, this documentary-style film highlights aspects of the everyday lives of modern Egyptians. Given the West’s long-standing fascination with the culture, it isn’t surprising that Egypt was one of the first places early producers sent their cameramen. As cinema is a medium that embraces movement and life, the modern inhabitants of the region and their daily lives provided a pleasing contrast to the static backdrop formed by the familiar relics of ancient Egypt, and soon more films along this vein began to find their way to audiences throughout the world. By focusing on the lives of modern Egyptians, films such as this presented a view of Egypt essentially hidden from Western audiences before the turn of the 20thcentury. Scenes include maize flour preparation, the drawing of water from a well, ‘Native Home Industries’, children reading from the Koran, ‘The Pasha Feeding the Poor’, and – as nitrate decomposition worsens – a number of women moving past the camera." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - I agree with LL, this is an interesting view of Sudan / Egypt about the everyday life.
Le Chapeau
My Hat. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. 231 ft /16 fps/ 5 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #74), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Comedy ensues when two men accidentally swap hats at the barber’s. After discovering the mix-up, the first man to leave returns to the shop to correct the mistake. Furious when he finds that the other customer has disappeared with his hat, the man storms through the city demanding to inspect the headgear of every man he meets." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A funny comedy. Too small a hat leads to a revenge to the world.
Miracle de Noël
Christmas Miracle. FR 1905. PC: Pathé. 266 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #21), no intertitles. - Beautiful colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "After unsuccessfully begging from parishioners as they leave a Christmas service, a child slips into the church for warmth and collapses on the altar. A stained-glass image of a saint comes to life and scoops up the boy, who then assists the saint as he delivers toys to the homes of sleeping children. Though not screened as a part of Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures’ “Trip Round the World” programme, in the eyes of at least one reviewer (in The Ceylon Morning Leader, December 1907) Miracle de Noël was similarly enlightening, allowing viewers to experience distant lands in ways impossible before the development of motion pictures: “The subjects of the pictures were carefully chosen, and, besides being interesting, were of considerable educational value to the majority of the audience. For instance, in the course of the pretty story of Santa Claus, the snow falling on Christmas Eve was depicted in a way which brought home to Eastern minds a detail of the English climate in a vivid and living way which no amount of reading could ever do.” This five-shot film combines optical effects with studio settings reminiscent of a children’s pantomime. Starting with a child desperately begging for coins in cold weather, the film warms to a more joyous mood of wish-fulfillment fantasy." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A moving story belonging to the tradition of A Little Match Girl.
A Canadian Winter Carnival
US 1909. PC: Edison. 659 ft /16 fps/ 11 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #24), original English intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "According to Harper’s Bazaar (8 March 1884), the Montreal Winter Carnival was founded as a means of promoting tourism to the country, aiming “to show that life in Canada may be not only endurable during the winter months, but enjoyable.” During the annual celebration, thousands of tourists would journey to Quebec to experience the charms of the Canadian winter through various snow sports, parades, races, and masquerade balls. Twenty-five years after the festival began, A Canadian Winter Carnival helped extend the reach of the founders’ efforts by transporting a glimpse of these attractions to the far corners of the globe. Included are views of the ski-jumping, tobogganing, and snowshoeing, along with a parade of sleighs. The festival’s featured attraction was the Ice Palace, a massive structure illuminated each evening by electric lamps, which at the end of the season would be destroyed in a mock battle by snowshoers with torches and fireworks. The Edison film shows workers along the St. Lawrence River harvesting of some of the thousands of ice blocks needed to construct the palace." Leslie Anne Lewis.
The Hand of the Artist
GB 1906. PC: R.W. Paul. D: Walter R. Booth; 191 ft /16 fps/ 3 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #54), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Walter R. Booth, magician and stop-motion animation pioneer, began his career as one of the first British animators with The Hand of the Artist. Like the vengeful artist in later animated classics such as Duck Amuck (...), Booth’s film features subjects that inhabit a world controlled by their mercurial creator. The photographic images are composed and brought to life on a whim, and then just as quickly transformed or reduced to immobility by the Hand of the Artist. After each animated sequence, the Hand crumples the paper and disposes of it in a shower of confetti. (...) one of several films in the Corrick Collection that make use of the stop-motion technique (...)" Leslie Anne Lewis.
Les grandes eaux de Versailles
Big Fountains at Versailles. FR 1904. PC: Pathé. 183 ft /16 fps/3 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #43), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Another highlight of the “Trip Round the World” programme, these images taken at Versailles were billed as “Gorgeously colored, the most beautiful fountains in the world”. Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles takes the viewer on a tour of the grounds of the historic French palace. The last section of the film shows off the famous fountains with a hand-painted, multi-coloured sequence." Leslie Anne Lewis
Les Invisibles
The Invisible Men. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Gaston Velle; FX: Segundo de Chomón; 655 ft /16 fps/ 11 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #59), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "In this remarkable film, an alchemist discovers a potion that renders the drinker invisible. After he and his assistant leave the lab, two thieves break in and steal the potion. Enjoying their new-found power, the thieves wreak havoc throughout the city, finally framing the alchemist and his assistant for their crimes. Eventually the thieves are caught and brought before the court.
Under the direction of Gaston Velle, special-effects wizard Segundo de Chomón takes full advantage of the possibilities afforded by the premise of Les Invisibles, using the fantastic nature of the story as a canvas for a series of elaborate effects. In a richly detailed laboratory surrounded by all the essential accoutrements of a proper mad scientist – including a skeleton in the closet and a giant stuffed crocodile – the great effort of the alchemist’s thinking is realized when his brain literally explodes. Surprisingly quick to recover, he then sets the stage for a series of amusing disappearing and reappearing tricks that continue throughout the film. One of the most striking scenes comes after the thieves knock out a light while making their escape. What follows is a chase scene through the city shown in silhouette, recalling the intricate shadow puppets that provided optical entertainment in previous centuries. The finale is peculiar, but right in line with the film’s other surreal imagery: the courtroom suddenly disappears and the prisoners and court officers are transformed into giant vegetables, complete with detailed stencil-colouring. These also fade away, leaving the professor and his assistant to exit the now-empty black screen." Leslie Anne Lewis. - A marvellous fantasy film of miraculous transformations.
[Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra]
GB 1902. 257 ft /16 fps/ .4’30”, (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #88), no intertitles. - Good print.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "The Corrick Family often opened their shows with a film depicting the reigning British monarchs, of which they had several in their collection. After a performance in India, one reviewer noted how these patriotic images, “At once aroused the loyal feelings of the whole assembly as they stood up while ‘the King’ was sung by the Corricks. The feelings thus aroused put the audience, particularly the Military element, in the best of humour and spirits which were maintained throughout the evening.” This three-shot film of the coronation parade of Edward VII and Alexandra, which took place on 9 August 1902, is undoubtedly one of the more spectacular views of the Royals shown during these concerts. The first shot shows the carriage passing by, attended by members of the nobility and soldiers of the realm. The next is a long shot of the procession as it makes its way through Whitehall, the background dominated by Canada’s contribution to the festivities, a large archway that proudly declares, “Canada – Britain’s Granary in War and Peace – God Bless Our King and Queen”. At first, the third shot seems similar to the first – soldiers and dignitaries passing by – but the camera is positioned closer to the action rather than above the crowd, and the expressions on the faces of spectators are more clearly visible as they look down the street in anticipation. When the royal carriage comes into view, it brings with it a treat: in the last few seconds of the film, the royal carriage, horses, flags, and guards have been hand-painted – bright orange and blue, vibrant red and yellow – a pleasing detail unexpected in a newsreel-style film such as this." – Leslie Anne Lewis
The Lost Child
US 1904. PC: Biograph. D: Wallace McCutcheon; DP: G.W. Bitzer; cast: Kathryn Osterman; 479 ft /16 fps/ 8 min, print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #66), no intertitles. - OK print
Leslie Anne Lewis: "A child left alone to play in the front yard crawls into the doghouse for a nap. His mother panics when she discovers he is missing, and begins searching frantically for the child. Spying a passer-by with a large basket, she assumes he has kidnapped the baby and so sets off in hot pursuit. In typical chase-comedy fashion, the hapless man is pursued across the countryside by a mob which swells with each passing shot – adding, among others, a policeman, a man being pushed in a wheelchair, a one-legged boy, and an entire family of farmers. After finally catching the man, the crowd watches the policeman reach into the man’s basket and pull out... a large guinea pig. Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of the trouble he’s caused, the child awakens from his afternoon slumber. Biograph advertisements claimed that The Lost Child was based on a recent event in Brooklyn, New York. Though details of that case remain shrouded in mystery, one would assume that the guinea pig was purely a construct of the filmmaker’s imagination." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A wild escalation.
Marie-Antoinette
FR 1903. PC: Pathé. 516 ft /16 fps/ 8’30” (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #41). English intertitles. - A fine print, effective colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Depictions of the lives of historical figures could provide a dash of legitimacy to a programme often filled with chase comedies and trick films. This 9-part tableau-style historical drama features scenes in the life of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, from lavish parties at Versailles to her trial and imprisonment, and finally the slow march to the guillotine. Missing is the coup de grâce, the execution of the Queen by Revolutionaries; however, a shot showing the prisoner being taunted by a severed head on a pole stuck through her cell window adds a bit of gruesome zip to this film touted as “educational” by both the Corricks and reviewers." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - An impressive history lesson with some blunt cuts: from the merry frolick to the taking of the Bastille.
Toto exploite la curiosité
Ralph Benefits by People’s Curiosity. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. 274 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #93), no intertitles. - A beautiful print. - Leslie Anne Lewis: "Toto (or Ralph, in this English-titled version) uses a kaleidoscope to supplement his family’s meagre income by charging passers-by for a peek into the optical toy. The narrative, however, is chiefly an excuse to feature the brilliantly colored geometric designs of the kaleidoscope as they shift from one hue to the next. The precisely stenciled blues, greens, reds, and yellows seen in the Corricks’ print are bright and vivid, the dyes seemingly unfaded in the century since their application at the Pathé factory. Only briefly glimpsed in this print, the Pathé logo included with this film is unusual and specific to the subject: a kaleidoscopic view of Pathé’s trademark rooster shown in varying shades of red." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A beautiful film bordering on the experimental with its kaleidoscope effects. Lively street scenes.
La Vie indigène au Soudan égyptien
Native Life in Egyptian Sudan. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 404 ft /16 fps/ 7 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #75), no intertitles. - Suffering from decomposition of the nitrate original, yet with beautiful definition of light wherever the image is intact.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Rather than repeating the typical views of ancient pyramids, temples, and the Sphinx that had traditionally defined “Egypt” in the minds of Westerners, this documentary-style film highlights aspects of the everyday lives of modern Egyptians. Given the West’s long-standing fascination with the culture, it isn’t surprising that Egypt was one of the first places early producers sent their cameramen. As cinema is a medium that embraces movement and life, the modern inhabitants of the region and their daily lives provided a pleasing contrast to the static backdrop formed by the familiar relics of ancient Egypt, and soon more films along this vein began to find their way to audiences throughout the world. By focusing on the lives of modern Egyptians, films such as this presented a view of Egypt essentially hidden from Western audiences before the turn of the 20thcentury. Scenes include maize flour preparation, the drawing of water from a well, ‘Native Home Industries’, children reading from the Koran, ‘The Pasha Feeding the Poor’, and – as nitrate decomposition worsens – a number of women moving past the camera." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - I agree with LL, this is an interesting view of Sudan / Egypt about the everyday life.
Le Chapeau
My Hat. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. 231 ft /16 fps/ 5 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #74), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Comedy ensues when two men accidentally swap hats at the barber’s. After discovering the mix-up, the first man to leave returns to the shop to correct the mistake. Furious when he finds that the other customer has disappeared with his hat, the man storms through the city demanding to inspect the headgear of every man he meets." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A funny comedy. Too small a hat leads to a revenge to the world.
Miracle de Noël
Christmas Miracle. FR 1905. PC: Pathé. 266 ft /16 fps/ 5 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original tinting); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #21), no intertitles. - Beautiful colour.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "After unsuccessfully begging from parishioners as they leave a Christmas service, a child slips into the church for warmth and collapses on the altar. A stained-glass image of a saint comes to life and scoops up the boy, who then assists the saint as he delivers toys to the homes of sleeping children. Though not screened as a part of Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures’ “Trip Round the World” programme, in the eyes of at least one reviewer (in The Ceylon Morning Leader, December 1907) Miracle de Noël was similarly enlightening, allowing viewers to experience distant lands in ways impossible before the development of motion pictures: “The subjects of the pictures were carefully chosen, and, besides being interesting, were of considerable educational value to the majority of the audience. For instance, in the course of the pretty story of Santa Claus, the snow falling on Christmas Eve was depicted in a way which brought home to Eastern minds a detail of the English climate in a vivid and living way which no amount of reading could ever do.” This five-shot film combines optical effects with studio settings reminiscent of a children’s pantomime. Starting with a child desperately begging for coins in cold weather, the film warms to a more joyous mood of wish-fulfillment fantasy." – Leslie Anne Lewis. - A moving story belonging to the tradition of A Little Match Girl.
A Canadian Winter Carnival
US 1909. PC: Edison. 659 ft /16 fps/ 11 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #24), original English intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "According to Harper’s Bazaar (8 March 1884), the Montreal Winter Carnival was founded as a means of promoting tourism to the country, aiming “to show that life in Canada may be not only endurable during the winter months, but enjoyable.” During the annual celebration, thousands of tourists would journey to Quebec to experience the charms of the Canadian winter through various snow sports, parades, races, and masquerade balls. Twenty-five years after the festival began, A Canadian Winter Carnival helped extend the reach of the founders’ efforts by transporting a glimpse of these attractions to the far corners of the globe. Included are views of the ski-jumping, tobogganing, and snowshoeing, along with a parade of sleighs. The festival’s featured attraction was the Ice Palace, a massive structure illuminated each evening by electric lamps, which at the end of the season would be destroyed in a mock battle by snowshoers with torches and fireworks. The Edison film shows workers along the St. Lawrence River harvesting of some of the thousands of ice blocks needed to construct the palace." Leslie Anne Lewis.
The Hand of the Artist
GB 1906. PC: R.W. Paul. D: Walter R. Booth; 191 ft /16 fps/ 3 min; print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #54), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Walter R. Booth, magician and stop-motion animation pioneer, began his career as one of the first British animators with The Hand of the Artist. Like the vengeful artist in later animated classics such as Duck Amuck (...), Booth’s film features subjects that inhabit a world controlled by their mercurial creator. The photographic images are composed and brought to life on a whim, and then just as quickly transformed or reduced to immobility by the Hand of the Artist. After each animated sequence, the Hand crumples the paper and disposes of it in a shower of confetti. (...) one of several films in the Corrick Collection that make use of the stop-motion technique (...)" Leslie Anne Lewis.
Les grandes eaux de Versailles
Big Fountains at Versailles. FR 1904. PC: Pathé. 183 ft /16 fps/3 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original hand-colouring); print: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #43), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "Another highlight of the “Trip Round the World” programme, these images taken at Versailles were billed as “Gorgeously colored, the most beautiful fountains in the world”. Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles takes the viewer on a tour of the grounds of the historic French palace. The last section of the film shows off the famous fountains with a hand-painted, multi-coloured sequence." Leslie Anne Lewis
Les Invisibles
The Invisible Men. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. D: Gaston Velle; FX: Segundo de Chomón; 655 ft /16 fps/ 11 min (printed on colour stock, reproducing original stencil-colour); fonte copia/print source: National Film and Sound Archive, Australia (Corrick Collection #59), no intertitles.
Leslie Anne Lewis: "In this remarkable film, an alchemist discovers a potion that renders the drinker invisible. After he and his assistant leave the lab, two thieves break in and steal the potion. Enjoying their new-found power, the thieves wreak havoc throughout the city, finally framing the alchemist and his assistant for their crimes. Eventually the thieves are caught and brought before the court.
Under the direction of Gaston Velle, special-effects wizard Segundo de Chomón takes full advantage of the possibilities afforded by the premise of Les Invisibles, using the fantastic nature of the story as a canvas for a series of elaborate effects. In a richly detailed laboratory surrounded by all the essential accoutrements of a proper mad scientist – including a skeleton in the closet and a giant stuffed crocodile – the great effort of the alchemist’s thinking is realized when his brain literally explodes. Surprisingly quick to recover, he then sets the stage for a series of amusing disappearing and reappearing tricks that continue throughout the film. One of the most striking scenes comes after the thieves knock out a light while making their escape. What follows is a chase scene through the city shown in silhouette, recalling the intricate shadow puppets that provided optical entertainment in previous centuries. The finale is peculiar, but right in line with the film’s other surreal imagery: the courtroom suddenly disappears and the prisoners and court officers are transformed into giant vegetables, complete with detailed stencil-colouring. These also fade away, leaving the professor and his assistant to exit the now-empty black screen." Leslie Anne Lewis. - A marvellous fantasy film of miraculous transformations.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: 12: Visions du réel - visions d'art
Presenta Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 5 July 2008.
L'Enfance charitable. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 6 min. - Visions of poverty as children come to the help of the poor.
A Day in the Dog's Home. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 3 min. - A rich lady selects a dog in the dog shelter, where we meet an old woman in the yard. Documentary look.
Une noce en Bretagne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A documentary on a country wedding in Brittany, with banquet tables, musicians, and dances, and separate tables for the poor. Beautiful AFF / CNC print.
Le Culture des huîtres / The Oyster from Bed to Table. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A documentary account on the cultivation of oysters, ending with a shot of a gourmand. Low contrast, heavily duped BFINA print.
Ich habe keinen Frack. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 8 min. - A funny comedy about the alcoholic pianist and the "Roman officer" sculptor's model.
RECONSTRUCTING THE PREMIERE OF L'ASSASSINAT DU DUC DE GUISE
VISIONS D'ART (SALLE CHARRAS, 17 NOVEMBER 1908)
1. LE SECRET DE MYRTO (REGINA BADET)
Dans l'Hellade. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. Starring Stacia Napierkowska. 4 min. - Ancient Greek dance scene.
2. SERIE VENETIENNE DE PLAQUES AUTOCHROME
Venice, Reine de l'Adriatique. FR 1912. PC: Gaumont. Widescreen (ca 1:2), Tricromia colour. 3 min. - Venetian scenes very beautifully photographed, composed, and in pleasant colours. From Archives Gaumont-Pathé.
3. M. LE BARGY, LECTURE DE VERS D'EDMOND ROSTAND
Benoît Constant Coquelin dans Cyrano de Bergerac. FR 1900. PC: Phono-Cinéma Théâtre. Starring Ainé Coquelin, Desjardin. With synchronized sound. 2 min. Digibeta, alas. Print: Lobster. - A very moving scene from the legendary original performance of Edmond Rostand's play.
La Valse chaloupée. [A scene from L'Empreinte.] FR 1908. PC: Le Film d'Art. D: Paul Henry Burguet. Starring Mistinguett, Max Dearly. 2 min. Print: AFF / CNC. - A startling performance by the stars of the Moulin Rouge.
L'Empreinte / L'Empreinte ou la Main Rouge. FR 1908. PC: Le Film d'Art. D: Paul Henry Burguet. Based on the pantomime Conscience. Starring Gaston Severin (Pierrot). Print: AFF / CNC. 14 min. - A "mimodrame cinématographique" on the murderer Pierrot's rise into high society, his nightmare, and the voice of his conscience.
L'Enfance charitable. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 6 min. - Visions of poverty as children come to the help of the poor.
A Day in the Dog's Home. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 3 min. - A rich lady selects a dog in the dog shelter, where we meet an old woman in the yard. Documentary look.
Une noce en Bretagne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A documentary on a country wedding in Brittany, with banquet tables, musicians, and dances, and separate tables for the poor. Beautiful AFF / CNC print.
Le Culture des huîtres / The Oyster from Bed to Table. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A documentary account on the cultivation of oysters, ending with a shot of a gourmand. Low contrast, heavily duped BFINA print.
Ich habe keinen Frack. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 8 min. - A funny comedy about the alcoholic pianist and the "Roman officer" sculptor's model.
RECONSTRUCTING THE PREMIERE OF L'ASSASSINAT DU DUC DE GUISE
VISIONS D'ART (SALLE CHARRAS, 17 NOVEMBER 1908)
1. LE SECRET DE MYRTO (REGINA BADET)
Dans l'Hellade. FR 1909. PC: Pathé. Starring Stacia Napierkowska. 4 min. - Ancient Greek dance scene.
2. SERIE VENETIENNE DE PLAQUES AUTOCHROME
Venice, Reine de l'Adriatique. FR 1912. PC: Gaumont. Widescreen (ca 1:2), Tricromia colour. 3 min. - Venetian scenes very beautifully photographed, composed, and in pleasant colours. From Archives Gaumont-Pathé.
3. M. LE BARGY, LECTURE DE VERS D'EDMOND ROSTAND
Benoît Constant Coquelin dans Cyrano de Bergerac. FR 1900. PC: Phono-Cinéma Théâtre. Starring Ainé Coquelin, Desjardin. With synchronized sound. 2 min. Digibeta, alas. Print: Lobster. - A very moving scene from the legendary original performance of Edmond Rostand's play.
La Valse chaloupée. [A scene from L'Empreinte.] FR 1908. PC: Le Film d'Art. D: Paul Henry Burguet. Starring Mistinguett, Max Dearly. 2 min. Print: AFF / CNC. - A startling performance by the stars of the Moulin Rouge.
L'Empreinte / L'Empreinte ou la Main Rouge. FR 1908. PC: Le Film d'Art. D: Paul Henry Burguet. Based on the pantomime Conscience. Starring Gaston Severin (Pierrot). Print: AFF / CNC. 14 min. - A "mimodrame cinématographique" on the murderer Pierrot's rise into high society, his nightmare, and the voice of his conscience.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Cento anni fà: I film del 1908: 11: Visions sensuelles
Presenta: Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Maud Nelissen. Viewed in Bologna, at Cinema Lumière 1, 4 July 2008.
Aeroplane Gliding. GB 1908. 1 min. - Brief runs of a biplane glider.
[Auf hoher See] / [Oberland und Berna]. IT? 1908?. 5 min. - High wind in the ocean, the beauty of the surf.
Nuit de Noël /Christmas Eve Night. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 12 min. - Tragedy of the fisherman who sets out to sea on Christmas Eve, his wife seduced by another man, with a terrible revenge, including a shocking image of the horse falling down the bluff.
Repas du serpent. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 3 min. - A big snake strangles and eats in one piece a live rabbit.
Society Wedding. FR 19o8. PC: Gaumont. 5 min. - Actuality footage at the entrance of the wedding banquet showing the magnificent carriages of the society people.
Eine kleine Mutter. FR 1908. PC: Lion. 9 min. - Mother on his deathbed, the children facing the destiny of being orphans.
La Fabrication du charbon de bois. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - Documentary on the production of wood charcoal.
Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs. GB 1908. D: George Albert Smith. 1 min.
Visite à Stockholm. FR 1908.
Dans le sous-marin. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 8 min. - Fiction with sets and effects resembling Méliès. A tragic story of a submarine accident ending with fantasy visions of peace and webs with babies.
Aeroplane Gliding. GB 1908. 1 min. - Brief runs of a biplane glider.
[Auf hoher See] / [Oberland und Berna]. IT? 1908?. 5 min. - High wind in the ocean, the beauty of the surf.
Nuit de Noël /Christmas Eve Night. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 12 min. - Tragedy of the fisherman who sets out to sea on Christmas Eve, his wife seduced by another man, with a terrible revenge, including a shocking image of the horse falling down the bluff.
Repas du serpent. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 3 min. - A big snake strangles and eats in one piece a live rabbit.
Society Wedding. FR 19o8. PC: Gaumont. 5 min. - Actuality footage at the entrance of the wedding banquet showing the magnificent carriages of the society people.
Eine kleine Mutter. FR 1908. PC: Lion. 9 min. - Mother on his deathbed, the children facing the destiny of being orphans.
La Fabrication du charbon de bois. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - Documentary on the production of wood charcoal.
Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs. GB 1908. D: George Albert Smith. 1 min.
Visite à Stockholm. FR 1908.
Dans le sous-marin. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 8 min. - Fiction with sets and effects resembling Méliès. A tragic story of a submarine accident ending with fantasy visions of peace and webs with babies.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: 10: Visions impossibles - presente e futuro dei trucchi cinematografici
Presented by Mariann Lewinsky. Grand piano: Donald Sosin. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 3 July 2008.
The Dog Outwits the Kidnappers. GB 1908. PC: Hepworth. D: Fitzhamon Lewin. 7 min. - A comedy reversal of Rescued by Rover: the dog conducts the car with the kidnapped child back home.
Papillons japonais / Japanische Schmetterlinge. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - An exceptionally beautiful trick film full of transformations.
L'Etang enchanté. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomon. 4 min. - Another exquisite trick film with transformations of water nymphs.
[Pathé Trick Film 1908 No. 2]. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 4 min (or longer?). - An astounding succession of transformations with interesting puppet animation, even with macabre touches in the style of Tim Burton.
L'insaisissable pickpocket. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A truly wonderful comedy of transformations of the elusive pickpocket, who can change into almost anything in the style of Méliès or animation: even into a snake or into a pile of bricks.
Le bon invalide et les enfants. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 4 min. - Weird children's play with a benevolent invalid who borrows his limbs for them.
Auteur à la mode / Ein spannend fesselnder Roman. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 8 min. - A wonderful comedy of exaggeration as everybody reads the best-selling novel, at the expense of everything else. A big disappointment awaits the female fans in the end.
Les Reflets vivants / Lebende Spiegelbilder. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Camille de Morlhon. 4 min. - Scifi-cinefantastique-comedy about the inventor who invents a kind of hologram mirror images. Everybody gets doubled.
Reve des marmitons. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomon. 7 min. - A dream in the kitchen: all the kitchen work gets done by the disjected hands.
Fantasmagories. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. D: Emile Cohl. 3 min. - Animation: drawn white lines on black.
The Acrobatic Fly. GB 1908. PC: Urban. D: Percy Smith. 3 min. - The miraculous powers of flies in what looks like a documentary.
The Dog Outwits the Kidnappers. GB 1908. PC: Hepworth. D: Fitzhamon Lewin. 7 min. - A comedy reversal of Rescued by Rover: the dog conducts the car with the kidnapped child back home.
Papillons japonais / Japanische Schmetterlinge. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - An exceptionally beautiful trick film full of transformations.
L'Etang enchanté. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomon. 4 min. - Another exquisite trick film with transformations of water nymphs.
[Pathé Trick Film 1908 No. 2]. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 4 min (or longer?). - An astounding succession of transformations with interesting puppet animation, even with macabre touches in the style of Tim Burton.
L'insaisissable pickpocket. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A truly wonderful comedy of transformations of the elusive pickpocket, who can change into almost anything in the style of Méliès or animation: even into a snake or into a pile of bricks.
Le bon invalide et les enfants. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 4 min. - Weird children's play with a benevolent invalid who borrows his limbs for them.
Auteur à la mode / Ein spannend fesselnder Roman. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. 8 min. - A wonderful comedy of exaggeration as everybody reads the best-selling novel, at the expense of everything else. A big disappointment awaits the female fans in the end.
Les Reflets vivants / Lebende Spiegelbilder. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Camille de Morlhon. 4 min. - Scifi-cinefantastique-comedy about the inventor who invents a kind of hologram mirror images. Everybody gets doubled.
Reve des marmitons. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomon. 7 min. - A dream in the kitchen: all the kitchen work gets done by the disjected hands.
Fantasmagories. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. D: Emile Cohl. 3 min. - Animation: drawn white lines on black.
The Acrobatic Fly. GB 1908. PC: Urban. D: Percy Smith. 3 min. - The miraculous powers of flies in what looks like a documentary.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: 2: Uomini del 1908
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky & Vladimir Bosenko. Grand piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 July 2008.
PRIMA PARTE: LA CLASSE AGIATA
1908 London Olympics: Track and Field. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 9 min. - Low contrast, no titles explaining who is who.
Kaiser Wilhelm II Hunting. DE 1908. 2 min. - A catch of deer. Good print.
Les Dragées du grand-père. FR 1908. 7 min. - The virile grandfather buys power pills from the pharmacy, but his rascal grandson takes them, too, and amazes the world with his miracle power. +
Avventura galante di un provinciale. IT 1908. PC: Milano Films. D: Luca Comerio. 4 min. - The provincial gentleman picks up a woman who turns out to be a fake.
SECONDA PARTE: DA LOCALE A NAZIONALE ED INTERNAZIONALE; NUOVI PAESI PRODUTTORI
[Alexander Girardi singt]. DE 1908. PC: Messter. 2 min. - A silent print of a singing head.
Die Beerdigung der Opfer des Grubenunglücks auf der Zeche Radbod I.W. den 16 Nov. 1908. DE 1908. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 7 min. - An endless march.
Hänsel und Gretel. DE 1908. PC: Fita-Film. 3 min.
TERZA PARTE: CENTO ANNI DI CINEMA RUSSO
GOSFILMOFOND 60 YEARS
[A. Drankoff. St. Petersburg]. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 7 min. - The fire brigade in manouvres, red tinting.
Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoi. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 12 min. - The NFM Filmliga print with English subtitles. High contrast. Tolstoy at Jasnaja Poljana, meeting crowds at the station, visiting his Moskow home Kanovniki, Koslova station, Briansk station, morning walk in the snow, horseback riding in the winter.
Stenka Razin. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 10 min fragment. - Ponizovaja Volnitsa = liberation of the lower Volga sequence. A lot of Russian intertitles, not translated. The maid is thrown into the Volga.
St. Petersburg. DK 1908. 2 min.
PRIMA PARTE: LA CLASSE AGIATA
1908 London Olympics: Track and Field. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 9 min. - Low contrast, no titles explaining who is who.
Kaiser Wilhelm II Hunting. DE 1908. 2 min. - A catch of deer. Good print.
Les Dragées du grand-père. FR 1908. 7 min. - The virile grandfather buys power pills from the pharmacy, but his rascal grandson takes them, too, and amazes the world with his miracle power. +
Avventura galante di un provinciale. IT 1908. PC: Milano Films. D: Luca Comerio. 4 min. - The provincial gentleman picks up a woman who turns out to be a fake.
SECONDA PARTE: DA LOCALE A NAZIONALE ED INTERNAZIONALE; NUOVI PAESI PRODUTTORI
[Alexander Girardi singt]. DE 1908. PC: Messter. 2 min. - A silent print of a singing head.
Die Beerdigung der Opfer des Grubenunglücks auf der Zeche Radbod I.W. den 16 Nov. 1908. DE 1908. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 7 min. - An endless march.
Hänsel und Gretel. DE 1908. PC: Fita-Film. 3 min.
TERZA PARTE: CENTO ANNI DI CINEMA RUSSO
GOSFILMOFOND 60 YEARS
[A. Drankoff. St. Petersburg]. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 7 min. - The fire brigade in manouvres, red tinting.
Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoi. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 12 min. - The NFM Filmliga print with English subtitles. High contrast. Tolstoy at Jasnaja Poljana, meeting crowds at the station, visiting his Moskow home Kanovniki, Koslova station, Briansk station, morning walk in the snow, horseback riding in the winter.
Stenka Razin. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 10 min fragment. - Ponizovaja Volnitsa = liberation of the lower Volga sequence. A lot of Russian intertitles, not translated. The maid is thrown into the Volga.
St. Petersburg. DK 1908. 2 min.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Cento anni fà: I film del 1908: 1: Donne del 1908
FORZE IRRESISTIBILI: ATTRICI COMICHE E SUFFRAGETTES (1910-1915) 1
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky & Monica Dall'Asta. Grand piano: Neil Brand. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008.
PRIMA PARTE: L'ORDINE NATURALE
Le Sarrasin en Bretagne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A farming documentary, harvesting. +
La Fille de l'armateur. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 17 min. - Beautiful definition of light. +
SECONDA PARTE: CHI LAVA I PIATTI?
Madame l'avocate / La signora avvocatessa. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A story of the woman's place. Beautiful definition of light. *
Is Marriage a Failure? FR 19o8. PC: Pathé. 6 min. - Beautiful pantomime at the coffee table. *
The Nervous Kitchen Maid. FR 1908. PC: Pathé.
La Fabrication de la colle / Herstellung des Leims. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. +
TERZA PARTE: SPAURACCHI
La Journée d'une suffragette. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A farce making fun of suffragettes.
La neuropatologia. IT 1908. PC: Ambrosio. D: Camillo Negro, Roberto Omegna. 6 min. - The cure of grand hysteria.
QUARTA PARTE: DONNE PROFESSIONALI NEL CINEMA
[Madame fait du sabotage]. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 3 min. - Comedy about the husband and his mistress, who have to run as the floor of their carriage falls down, and the wife is awaiting at the destination.
Sculpture moderne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomón. 6 min. - Beautiful multi-colour print from AFF / CNC, ending with a fantastic sequence of clay animation. *
Une heroïne de quatres ans. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. D: [Alice Guy]. 9 min. - The little girl saves three drunkards and a dog from getting under the train with his skipping rope trap.
Demain matinée. FR 1908. 1 min.
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky & Monica Dall'Asta. Grand piano: Neil Brand. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008.
PRIMA PARTE: L'ORDINE NATURALE
Le Sarrasin en Bretagne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A farming documentary, harvesting. +
La Fille de l'armateur. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 17 min. - Beautiful definition of light. +
SECONDA PARTE: CHI LAVA I PIATTI?
Madame l'avocate / La signora avvocatessa. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A story of the woman's place. Beautiful definition of light. *
Is Marriage a Failure? FR 19o8. PC: Pathé. 6 min. - Beautiful pantomime at the coffee table. *
The Nervous Kitchen Maid. FR 1908. PC: Pathé.
La Fabrication de la colle / Herstellung des Leims. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. +
TERZA PARTE: SPAURACCHI
La Journée d'une suffragette. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A farce making fun of suffragettes.
La neuropatologia. IT 1908. PC: Ambrosio. D: Camillo Negro, Roberto Omegna. 6 min. - The cure of grand hysteria.
QUARTA PARTE: DONNE PROFESSIONALI NEL CINEMA
[Madame fait du sabotage]. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 3 min. - Comedy about the husband and his mistress, who have to run as the floor of their carriage falls down, and the wife is awaiting at the destination.
Sculpture moderne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomón. 6 min. - Beautiful multi-colour print from AFF / CNC, ending with a fantastic sequence of clay animation. *
Une heroïne de quatres ans. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. D: [Alice Guy]. 9 min. - The little girl saves three drunkards and a dog from getting under the train with his skipping rope trap.
Demain matinée. FR 1908. 1 min.
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