1909 Part 2: The End of a Decade

Hello again! I know it's been awhile...i've been lazy. But i'm back again and we will finish this decade!!

We start this second part with more Griffith...shoot me.

I'm a theatre major, as you should know from the title of this blog, so I know Shakespeare pretty well. I've seen and been a part of numerous productions of his plays including Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, and of course Midsummer Night's Dream. Now I understand that this was made over 100 years ago but even so the material had been around over 300 years at this point you couldn't think of SOMETHING new to bring the table Griffith? Also the editing was absolutely atrocious. It's one thing for pieces of film to be missing but to cut in extremely weird places for no discernible reason was extremely annoying and lazy on Griffith's part. The only thing that was done kind of okay was Puck's flying and even that was less than stellar. It's just bad.

Next up we finally have a film that was made by someone who isn't freaking D.W. Griffith. Mr. Flip by Gilbert M. Anderson

I'm slightly saddened by this film. I've heard of the greatness of Ben Turpin and this was said to be the first evidence pie-to-the-face comedy in film, so I expected it to be good. By the end of the film I was just confused and not even close to amused. Throughout the entire film this guy fucks with these women and then they mess with him in return. It was meant to be playful but he went around and rubbed their faces and in return he gets stabbed in the ass, electrocuted, and shot in the face with seltzer water...how is that fair? And on top of all of that why would a pie in the face end his shenanigans? We'll never know I guess.

Now the return of J. Stuart Blackton with Princess Nicotine.

I. Don't. Understand. This whole lack of consistency trend is grating on my nerves. I don't understand why the dude was using a magnifying glass to see a fairy that was at least a foot tall. I don't understand why the pipe fairy wasn't burned when she was being lit whilst in said pipe. I don't understand how a seemingly normal person sees a few fairies and is like OH HAI this is TOTES a normal occurrence...puh-lease. I don't understand why the magnifying glass shot was used...when he wasn't using a magnifying glass. I just don't understand.

And now for another installment of Racism 101 by D.W. Griffith with The Red Man's View.

I'm only going to say a few things about this because it really doesn't warrant a full response. The cinematography was good but no amount of pretty shots will help me like this film. The blatant disregard for actual Native American traditions is appalling. I can't...UGH. This is actually worse than Edison's foray into exploitation back in the 1890s. Le sigh.

Griffith...again. The Sealed Room.

I'm giving up...I really am. I thought I could still find redeeming qualities about Griffith's work but no! My main problem with him is not even his random stories or over dramatizations it's the fact that he simply doesn't know or care about the actual world he bases his stories in. The room they were in was about 10 or 12 feet high by about 18 to 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep. At the lowest estimations that is 1800 cubic feet of air. Let's say at most they were breathing 3 cubic feet worth of air per hour...it would take 600 HOURS for them to run out of air...that's 25 days!!! So HOW in the hell did they die in a matter of seconds!? DO YOUR RESEARCH GRIFFITH...UGH WOAVGUJsduhvdsjfnviuhngv[sAHRDVKJDRBGV973wqgrfbco8ubseqign.

Those Awful Hats...Griffith

UM...okay? It was a pre-show message for, i'm assuming, a major problem back then. Instead of turn off your cell phones (or this gem from Texas:

) they had this...I think. That said I liked the movie within a movie thing...meaning the effect was done relatively well. That's about it...it wasn't funny and thankfully it was only 2 minutes.

And finally...ending the decade with A Trap for Santa Claus...this should be interesting. 

I won't pass full judgement because it is a fragment but again Griffith lacks complete common sense and has the outdoor scenes in broad daylight...while the indoor scenes were clearly at night. I couldn't even think about what was going on because that bothered me so much. Awesome way to end the decade -_-. 

That's it folks. Next post (hopefully Sunday) will kind of be a summary as i'll post my favorite flicks and then next week we'll get into the 1910s! Thanks for reading and stay cool! 

1909 Part 1

Hello again! I know it's been awhile since I've posted...I started to write but I didn't really feel well so I stopped, and now i'm writing again. So today begins 1909...shall we get started? WE SHALL!

First up we have another D.W. Griffith film, go figure, titled A Corner in Wheat. 

For the most part I enjoyed the film. It resonates with me and my generation as far as the rich taking everything and leaving us to pick up the scraps (can you tell i'm a broke liberal college kid?). Regardless I'm sensing some issues that D.W. and I will come across in the future. His main problem is that almost every shot goes on for way too long. I hate films where the shots linger for like 10 seconds too long. We get it they're happy/sad/pissed! Now move on!! A recent super annoying example of this was in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 where Molly Weasley looks out toward the field when she hears someone arrive after the "Seven Potters". I could have sworn the shot lasted for like 20 seconds...probably not but still! Anyways I enjoyed the story and the titles in between scenes. Overall good film.

Next up we have another Griffith picture titled The Country Doctor

So throughout this film all I kept thinking was, "...this is a demon child!!". That kid barely, if ever, blinked and had raccoon rings around huge eyes. I was instantly terrified that this was an exorcist situation and I would be freaked out. Thankfully that didn't happen. A positive thing about this film is that the shots were (mostly) normal. There weren't any glaring long shots, that I can remember, so I'm happy about that. One thing that killed me was the fact that no one did their medical research. I understand its the early 1900s but the heart is definitely not in the same area as the stomach. Nor does listening to the pulse, putting your hand on the forehead, and putting rags on said forehead cure illness. When the doctor came back and was like "psh woman she's fine! I'll just touch her with my magic hands!"...yea not buying it. Other than that the film was pretty good.

Next we have The Curtain Pole by none other than D.W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith should never do comedy. This was all sorts of bad. I honestly can't say more because almost everything made me cringe.

And now The Golden Louis, another Griffith film.

Honestly all I have to say about this film is...huh? The girl is poor...she goes to sleep?...man drops coin...another man takes coin...gambles (without ever losing)...girl wakes up and leaves her stoop...man comes back to find her gone...girl goes back TO THE SAME STOOP (why is this stoop so special?!) and dies?...man finds her at the stoop (again) and then gives all of the other peasants the money...then laments her death??!?! How did this get greenlit?! Griffith is starting to falter.

Now is The Hessian Renegades...D.W. Griffith.

Yea...so America rules? That's what I got from that. Nothing remarkable to comment on although I will say that Griffith is losing me...maybe I just need a change of scene.

Last but not least we have The Lonely Villa. 

Why Griffith? I don't understand how this made any sense. There wasn't a real story here! All we see is some seedy people outside of a house and then the dad is gone and then the women are being attacked. Ok...why are they attacking that specific house?? There has to be a reason because they lured the big strong man away so they could take advantage of the family. Did they have some treasure? A secret bit of information? Were they from the mob? I WANT TO KNOW!

That's it for today folks! Next time we will be finishing up 1909 then I'll post my favorite films from this decade...should be a good time. Later!!

1908: The Birth of a D.W. Griffith

I'm back! Sorry about that whole vacation thing...parents were in town for my birthday and I didn't really have time to sit down and watch movies. That said, this week I will be going through the rest of the decade (ahead of schedule)! Today is when we start 1908. This is the year D.W. Griffith got hired as a director for Biograph pictures. He would go on to make 500 films through 1913 and in 1915 he would make the controversial Birth of a Nation (originally titled The Clansmen). Let's get started!

First up in today's line up is The Adventures of Dollie by D.W. Griffith.

Going into this film, and this director, I was extremely apprehensive. I heard from legions of film major friends the Mr. Griffith was...long winded (to say the least) and I really wasn't looking forward to it. Having seen his first film I can say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. This doesn't mean I'm a huge fan but there are many things that I did enjoy. First of all the lack of a sound stage was amazing. The entire film was shot outside and while I have a problem with the story (rather how long the story took), I was grateful for the scenes to take place in their natural habitat instead of being fabricated and goofy looking (Melies -_-). Hopefully we can stay on this trend of well done films...

Next up is another animated piece called Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohle.

1 minute and 20 seconds (approximately). That's how long this animated film was. It was over a minute of...nothing. I don't deny that the animation was pretty impressive for 1908 but that doesn't mean all forms of story need to be thrown out of the window! The little cartoon could have gone on a quick adventure to the zoo or around the city or SOMETHING! I don't understand how just because it's animated means there can't be any story. Thank the world for Disney (although he doesn't come in to feature films until 1937). He actually told stories with his films...crazy I know.

Now we have an Edison studios production starring D.W. Griffith called Rescued From an Eagle's Nest.

It can't be an Edison studios production without me getting highly confused and/or upset at something. Low and behold I wanted to throw my computer again. This time it was the lack of storytelling that happened. Let me sum up what I could gather from this film: bird picks up child, mother tries to shoot bird but can't, mother and father (with some friends) go on a search, father climbs down to fight bird (WHAT?!), father grabs child from off screen, father and child are pulled up to safety. My question is how the HELL did they know where the bird/kid were...the audience doesn't know so how do they know? That's what I mean by lack of storytelling. For example when you summarize a novel there is a story that is being said but there is no storytelling. All it would have taken is two shots, one that showed where the bird landed with the child and the other showing that the search party saw where they landed. Simple as that! If those shots existed I would have enjoyed this film but OH NO...things can't be happy in my world.

Next on our list is the first known Russian film Stenka Razin by Vladimir Romashkov.

First off a hearty welcome to Russia in the world of cinema. The Russians join England, France, Australia, and of course USA in cinematic productions. That said...I'm not a fan of this film. Thankfully there were title cards so I could kind of follow along but jesus it took forever to go through the scenes. Especially when the scenes that seemed important went by extremely fast and the first scene, which was a bunch of guys trying to get on a boat, took 2 WHOLE MINUTES. That means a third of the freaking film focused on them getting on a boat. I don't understand that at all. I'm not going to completely hate on the Russians for churning out this crap because it was their first film BUT good god let's hope that they do better in the future.

Last but not least is The Thieving Hand by J. Stuart Blackton.

Yay!! Ending a year with a great film always makes me happy. First of all I could see all of the actor's faces. Then the story was absolutely hilarious! Oh my did I laugh. I can't even articulate how much this film made me smile. My only criticism was the hokey sets BUT I can ignore it for the awesomeness that I just witnessed. This will definitely go into my favorite films of the decade list.

That's actually it for this year. There were a lot of lost films unfortunately (13 listed films with 5 films that I actually watched) so next time we will get into 1909. I can't believe we're almost into the 1910s! It seems like yesterday that I first watched Roundhay Garden Scene. Until next time!

I'm off!

Hi everyone! I'm sure you've been gnawing at your fingers wondering where my posts have been...Well my family is in town this whole week and I won't really have a moment to watch...let alone write any blogs. SO I'll be back next week with 4 posts just so I make sure to stay on schedule. That should end the 1900s (hopefully) and we'll go into the 100+ films that are in the 1910s! Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week.

1906 and 1907

Hello once again! Today, as promised, I will be going through two years (1906 and 1907). Hopefully I won't kill myself in the process but it's all in good fun.

First up we have Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J. Stuart Blackton, the artist behind The Enchanted Drawing, it's the first animated film devoted solely to the drawings on the page, or in the case the chalkboard.

I really enjoyed the animation in this. It's clear that there is still a LONG way to go until we get to Snow White but it's certainly well done. I enjoy the use of showing footage backwards making it look like smudges were turned into drawings. Good stuff! I even laughed a little bit at the beginning and of course every time Blackton's hand flashed the screen. I'm excited to watch more and more animation!

Next we have The Story of the Kelly Gang by Charles Tait.

...GO AUSTRAILIA!!!!!! This film was produced entirely in the land of kangaroos and was even banned in a number of places on the continent/country (signs of a good film yes?). Unfortunately this film was originally about an hour long and only about 15 minutes of it have survived. It would have been nice to see the rest of it but regardless I was pleased...for the most part. Before I talk about my seizures let's get into the stuff I liked. First of all...YAY LITTLE USE OF SETS!!!!!!! SO much of it was filmed in the natural environment instead of being fabricated in a studio (looking at you Melies) I was super happy about that. The story was also really well done. I was able to follow along pretty easily without straining myself. Now...I know this is because of damage but holy crap I felt epileptic in the second part...there were full minutes where all you can see is burnt or damaged film and I have no idea what goes on in those sequences! Very annoying. AND what the eff was up with that knight outfit Ned Kelly was wearing? I was expecting the Black Knight to come in after him... Anyways I really enjoyed the film and I'm super proud of Australia for putting out such high quality work.

Now we're into 1907 and to start us off we have Mr. Melies with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 

Mark this a day in history folks because I absolutely hated every single piece of this film...a Melies film. The story was loosely based on the novel at best and the special effects were down right terrible! In past Melies films we've seen people breathing without protective gear on the sun and the moon which I can forgive because no one really knew what their atmospheres were like back in the early 20th century...BUT to let some dude just open up a hatch in his submarine without a diving suit is just downright STUPID!!! And don't say oh well it was a dream so it doesn't matter...BULL. SHIT. No...just no. I freaking hate dreams in movie and television and this is no exception (although Inception is). It's the biggest cop out in screenwriting and I don't care for it at all....AND omg and the freaking dancers...WHY?!?!?! just why??? I don't understand at all...they didn't even look like mermaids because they had FEET. Oh and then they like took the sailor away? Look I have no idea what happened all I know is that I am super disappointed in Melies.

And now we have the first incarnation of Ben Hur by Canadian director Sidney Olcott.

So there really isn't anything remarkable about this film except that this is the film that got the whole "get the rights to film something from previously written work" law. Also...karate CHOP! (check out what the guard does at around 5:25).

Now we have short comedy called First Prize for the Cello.

So I really wish I could congratulate the people who did this...but they are unknown. This was absolutely hilarious! Simple, to the point, and just plain funny this film really made me feel good about this project again. I was feeling like it was going to take a lot to get through the early years of cinema especially when we get to D.W Griffith (so scared). But this has reminded me that a lot of films were quite good. I also really appreciated the quality of the picture. Compared to Ben Hur it was like watching HD! And the lengths those people were going through to get the cellist the hell out of their neighborhood was priceless!! This is certainly going in my top movies of the decade list.

Unfortunately there were 6 more films made in 1907 but I can't get access to them anywhere! This is especially sad because the oldest pornographic film was on this list. If anyone can find the rest of the films on this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_in_film let me know and i'll make sure to watch them. Till next time!!

1904 is lame...and so is 1905

Well...I'm a couple of days late...I know I know. So it turns out 1904 was a dud of a year because there is only one surviving film...by Melies of course. So after that we'll do all of 1905 (there are only 2) which will make us halfway done with the 1900s!! I would just like to say that i'm a truly happy camper. Let's get on with the show!!

Like I said 1904 only had one film and it's by our favorite french director Georges Melies...take a gander at the first part of An Impossible Voyage!

So...a couple of things about this piece. Melies has gotten really good at what he does but...at this point there should be something new. It's extremely possible that the technology doesn't exist to do anything new, I have no idea if it does or not, but i'm starting to get bored instead of being impressed. What I was impressed by was all of the moving parts. The large wheel, the piston/engine thingy, and the train/auto-van thing/submarine were all very well done. Now for my one major complaint (i'm not even upset about the story, which was weird as hell)...CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE IN CLOSER!! I don't understand why half the train or submarine is cut just to see the actors...Porter did it a year ago Melies why can't you?? This is probably my only criticism of Melies in general, he just doesn't move the camera closer. The only time he did this was in Gulliver's Travels back in 1902 and even then it could have been done a bit better. Now don't get me wrong I loved this WAY more than A Trip to the Moon but I would like a bit more variety from Georges.

Now we move on to 1905 with Cecil Hepworth's Baby's Toilet...

I honestly don't have words for how bored I was while watching this...For those of you who know me you know that I absolutely loathe babies and those of you who don't know me...I LOATHE babies. That is all.

Now for the last film of 1905 that I could find. Another Hepworth piece called Rescued by Rover. 

Yes I know the plot was about rescuing a baby...to you. To me it was about the bravery and intelligence of Rover! Especially since that mother was clearly batshit crazy (not talking about the possessive hobo). Who walks your baby...BEHIND YOU?!? I don't understand. The hobo, while poor and living in complete squalor, was still a more caring mother figure than that poor excuse for a biological mother. One way for me to hate you forever is to neglect your child. As a victim of negligence I absolutely refuse to accept any form of it in a positive way. That said I thought this was a well produced film with a variety of shots that include some close ups, wide and pans. Also I love that it was 70% outside! Good work Hepworth.

That's it for today...I know it's a short post but to make up for it I will do two years next time! Thanks for staying with me and I hope you'll continue to do so.

1903 Part 2

It's Friday!...Friday...we're gonna get down this Friday =D. Oh Rebecca Black how you permeate my life regardless of how many times you take your song off of youtube. Anyways today we finish up 1903 which includes a lot of Melies and the first film about Jesus...and so it begins!

First up is The Internal Boiling Pot by Mr. Melies...and it's only a minute long!

So Melies has found a pretty successful formula...hand tinted color, smoke, and ghosts. While I love Melies...he's certainly my favorite director of this era...I would love to see something new. He's becoming extremely predictable and eventually I'll start to get annoyed. I don't want to be annoyed by his rather fantastic style so let's hope things improve...or change at the very least!

Next up is Life of an American Fireman by Edwin S. Porter...where there was such potential...sigh just watch.

This could have been fantastic. I mean it could have been really great...and then they repeated footage. When they used the same freaking roll of the fire (wagons?) going to the house I almost threw my computer. COME ON! At this point you should be able to not repeat footage. And...AND! They rescue the mom and child...then cut to the same rescue just from the outside view which also didn't line up with the first rescue...UGH. I can't even comprehend how anyone thought this was a good idea. Oh wait! Porter works for that douche-nozzle Edison.

Moving on to another Melies piece The Magic Lantern  before I key-smash.

YAY!!! My film soul is significantly less fragmented because of this fantastic piece of cinema. So these clowns make this magic lantern which projects pictures and creates dancers? I love it!...no smoke, no color, and no ghosts but the special effects were still fantastic. I especially loved the huge wacky inflatable man that was actually some dude in a big costume but still! Anyways A+ for Georges.

Next is of course another Melies piece titled Le Melomane 

HAHAHA this was amazingly weird. So Melies stars in this rather interesting piece...where he becomes the music notes. I thoroughly loved  the end where the note/heads flew out towards the camera. Not much else to say.

And now for one of the first stories to franchise on every medium possible Uncle Tom's Cabin by Edwin S. Porter...let's hope I don't key-smash.

Okay so thank goodness for titles because it would have been ridiculously difficult to follow along without them. Thankfully Porter did a pretty good job at telling this story. The end was a little confusing with Abe Lincoln and such...I'm going to assume it's a nod to the "future" showing that Lincoln would free the slaves? I don't know...it was just strange. It's not like Porter was truly progressive everyone was in blackface (i'm pretty sure). But I don't blame him it's the 1900s not 78 or something. Fun side note...take a look at the actor who plays uncle tom ( a good view is between 7:20 and 7:40) and then look at this picture of Mickey from Mellerdrammer (a Disney version of Uncle Tom's Cabin):

That would be Mickey the right as Uncle Tom...white gloves, nappy hair, big lips, and blackface. Did I just blow your mind a little bit? Trust me I absolutely love Disney but you can't deny this fantastic little piece of racism...this and Song of the South (which we will get to in about a year or so). 

Now for the longest piece to date...and it's about Jesus Vie et Passion du Christ by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca. 

So I just gave you the end because the actual film runs at about 44 minutes. A few things about this film ...when Jesus was "born" (or wished which is what it looked like) I totally started singing Circle of Life from The Lion King... I'm pretty sure curtains with rods didn't exist during biblical times...Why was Egypt just as destroyed as it would have been in the 1900s or today?!...So despite popular illustrations of him Jesus was a hefty guy...WHY is every other scene colored some random primary color??!?!?!?...And you couldn't do a better superimposed effect for Jesus walking on water...you did the same thing a few scenes later with having the ghost effect... LOLZ homo. 

And last but not least another Porter film titled What Happened in the Tunnel 

When I read the title of this film I figured it would be at the very least interesting. Basically I laughed way too hard at this. Kudos to Porter for the train effect with the background moving behind them. I totally adore this film.

And that's it for 1903! Sunday we start 1904 which will also be split into two parts. Have an awesome weekend!  

1903 Part 1

Hey gang! Today I will be starting the year of 1903...which will be split into two parts. Super exciting yeah? Speaking of...my birthday is less than 24 hours away! I'm really excited...almost more excited than the fact that Edison stopped making films.

First up we have our first incarnation of Alice in Wonderland...oy.

Ok so I know the film was badly damaged with it being over 100 years old and all but GEEZ. The quality was absolutely terrible! A Trip to the Moon was better than that and you guys know how much I didn't like that. Special effects were pretty awful and if I hadn't known the story/if there hadn't been titles between scenes I would have been so flipping confused. It just wasn't executed well at all. Something I did like was all the kids as the cards...I totally laughed harder than I should have.

Now the most horrible thing you will ever see...another film by Thomas Edison.

TOLD YOU! ...poor Topsy =( =( =(. This elephant died because Edison wanted to one up Tesla...UGH WHAT A JERK! wsljkfdnvwp9e8rgbqergvnq;aowibAIUGREH[Q....not a fan -_-

Next up we see Mr. Melies again with Fairyland: A Kingdom of Fairies 

 

A few things about this piece: color again...nice, first evidence of a montage? yes!, special effects...nice as usual. Now for things I hated: the story...It was super difficult to follow and i'm pretty sure I still have it wrong. There was something about some bad guy and a princess? Then there were mermaids and they were breathing under water...it was some crazyness going on. Also I'm starting to get really tired of the theatrical sets...they were really good in this film but I'm just absolutely sick of them. I know things won't change for awhile but UGH.

And now for the most famous piece from this year...Thomas Edison's The Great Train Robbery.

For the first time I don't absolutely detest Edison's work...The problem is this is one of the only things (film wise) he's remembered for. The film had a good story which was easy to follow, a chase scene, a dance number and half of the film was shot outside and not in a studio! All in all I thought this was a great example of relatively good film making and I hope Edison's work continues on this path (although I doubt it when he also released Topsy in the same year =( ).

That's it for today! Next post will be on Friday because I have 4 finals on Thursday and won't have time to watch anything. Have a great week!  

1902...just moseying along

Hey everyone...I know i'm late...again. My life has been super hectic the past couple of weeks (summer session ends next week) and I've been getting ready for my birthday (which is on Tuesday!!!) so I apologize for my tardiness. But i'm here now and that's all that matters...right...RIGHT! Now we start 1902!

First off we have another film by Georges Melies (my favorite director by far as of right now). Barbe-Bleue is about a fairy tale with a guy who has a beard...that is blue. Let's watch!

soooooooo guy is looking for a wife...finds one...she finds the bodies of his other dead wifes...some chick turns into a key (which was extremely impressive by the way), guys beats wife up, then...dead wives save her?...the end?? Because this film is 9 minutes long and I have no idea what the Bluebeard fairy tale is about it was ridiculously hard to figure out. The problem with Melies work is that he only has one type of shot...so it's really hard to see what's going on (plus I have horrid eyesight). I do applaud him for his use of special effects mainly the key and all of the ghost stuff. For his time he truly was an innovator and I'm glad that I'm seeing his work.

Next is another Melies piece that only exemplifies is special effects genius, The Man With The Rubber Head.

wow...just wow. I'm floored by his use of the camera and just straight up genius. What else can I say about him? ...he's SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEHOT! (hey there Starkids lol)

Now for an extremely famous film...A Trip To The Moon by none other than Georges Melies! It's even narrated in English!!

So I know this is like super famous and basically started the sci-fi genre...BUT...this is by far my least favorite work by Melies. I really feel like he worked too much on the sets rather than doing more (or better in a lot of cases) special effects. The stars...really? You couldn't have done a shot with just the faces without showing the actors open up the fake star to put their head in?? This is the same guy that turned a woman into a key but he couldn't do a simple shot...that he's done before!! UGH...he went down a couple of notches in my book. Certainly not as obnoxious as freaking Edison but good god I was not a fan of this. Although I do like the shoot a bullet filled with people through the sky and land on the moon in an instant theory of flight. Oh how astronomy has grown since 1902.

And last but not least we have ANOTHER Melies film (man this guy was working hard 4 films released in a year!) Le Voyage de Gulliver a Lilliput et chez les geants or Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giant. 

Another hand tinted piece by my main guy...who got his groove back may I add. The effects were great, the story was pretty good, and we even got to see skin color at the end! Also Melies used a shot that was close enough to where I could see the actor's faces!! Significantly better than A Trip to the Moon I'm a huge fan of this first incarnation of the Gulliver story, sans Jack Black thankfully. 

Thus ends our Melies run year of 1902. I really enjoyed this year with our last film being my favorite. Come back on Sunday (I promise) as I start 1903 (which will have to be split into two posts). Thanks for reading/watching!   

1901...The Unproductive Era

Well hello there...fancy seeing you here...in my thoughts. Anywho today we're going into 1901 where not much happened. There were 7 films made in 1901...one of which is President McKinley's inauguration and 3 others I wasn't able to find. So I'm doing 4 films today (just so the posts are easy to keep up with in the future).

First up we have Fire! by James Williamson. It's just shy of 5 minutes long and is one of the first films to use multiple shots to tell a narrative. Take a look!

Favorites: shots used, fire effects, fireman who just left the hose running while he rescued the dude

Dislikes: they had two horse drawn carriages going to the fire but only used one...fail. 

I think this is a great example of how to tell a story through film. Early filmmakers had the extremely difficult tasking of not having words. They had to tell the story through their shots and this is a pretty good way of doing just that. 

Next we have President Mckinley's inauguration... 

Again Edison directed this documentary and it certainly didn't surprise me. It was boring as hell and because there is no sound or subtitles or something I have no idea what's going on. The only thing I could tell was that it was an important guy speaking and there was a parade...it tells me nothing of what was actually going on. I really wish Edison would stop experimenting and do an actual story (I know hes dead and all of his films have been produced but I want a time machine so I can smack him for being dumb). 

Now on to more American documentaries....Star Theatre by F.S. Armitage

What I love about this film is that it does something that Edisoon completely fails to do...tell me what's going on. There is an establishing shot of the star theatre...then the demolish it...then an ending shot of it completely demolished and people walking normally. Beginning, middle, and end. While it wasn't the most riveting or entertaining film I've watched it certainly did it's job and I appreciate that. 

And now the last film of the day Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost by Walter Booth. 

Favorites: super imposing for all ghost effects, acting, titles

Dislikes: set...looked like they took it straight from a stage production. 

Another British flick which I think is really well done and I wish more of the footage survived (we only have about half of the original). I really really really enjoyed the ghost effects. They were positively superb for their time! 

Well thats all I have to say. Join me on thursday when we go into 1902!