THE MAGICIAN (1898)
aka Le magicien
Article 4196 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-5-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Magic short

A magician sets off a series of magic occurrences.

Given the great number of shorts that Melies made involving magicians doing magic tricks, I’m not surprised one of his earliest films would have the title that this one does. And one odd thing about this one is that it doesn’t quite fit the pattern of his other magic trick films; the magician only appears for the opening couple of tricks and then vanishes from the film permanently, leaving the action in the hands of a succession of clowns, old men, and living statues. It even pursues some very minor story threads, such as the clown looking for something to eat and the old man trying to catch a disappearing woman. It lapses into incoherence at moments, but what makes it work is the sheer volume of special effects packed into a movie that runs just over one minute. It makes some of his later magic trick films seem slow.

THE MAGIC LANTERN (1903)
aka La lanterne magique
Article 4194 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-2-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Musical trick film

Two clowns construct a giant magic lantern which not only projects images, but spews forth legions of dancing girls.

Though technically this is a very well done trick film, I had to admit I found this one a bit on the boring side. It’s one of those which is heavy on the dancing girls of which Melies was so fond, and though there is something to admire in the moves of an acrobatic solo dancer that shows up, I still find these sections a bit tedious. The best bit comes at the end when a troupe of gendarmes shows up and corners the two clowns in their own magic lantern; they transform into a strange creature that looks like a melding between a human and a giant puppet; it’s easily the weirdest moment of this short.

THE MAGIC BOOK (1900)
aka Le livre magique
Article 4193 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-1-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Magic trick short

An old magician makes characters drawn in a big book come to life. However, when he brings forth a beautiful woman, they all begin courting her, and he must find a way to get rid of his creations.

This is, in some ways, a typical example of Melies’s magic trick shorts. This one is a bit novel in that it at least has some semblance of a plot, thin as it is. His way of disposing of his characters is to have them go back into the book, but at least one of the characters (the clown, wouldn’t you know?) gives him a lot of trouble in this regard. It’s a simple but fun short from Melies.

MACISTE (1915)
Article 4190 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-29-2013
Directed by Luigi Romano Borgnetto and Vincenzo Denizot
Featuring Bartolomeo Pagano, Leone Papa, Clementina Gay
Country: Italy
What it is: Thriller

When her father dies and her mother is abducted by a scheming uncle intent on acquiring the father’s fortune, a young woman, desperate for help, approaches the actor who played a heroic slave in the movie CABIRIA. He agrees to help her bring the criminals to justice.

CABIRIA is one of the touchstones of cinema history; it was one of the most impressive epics of its day, and it proved to be an inspiration for D.W. Griffith when he made INTOLERANCE. It also makes for an interesting footnote in the history of fantastic cinema, in that this is the movie to first introduce the character of Maciste to the movie screen. The character proved very popular, not just to audiences but to the actor who played him, muscular Bartolomeo Pagano. Pagano then made a career of playing the character, and even made “Maciste” his stage name. This was the first of his follow-ups to CABIRIA.

Oddly enough, the movie doesn’t really qualify as belonging to the fantastic genre on its own terms; though the character of Maciste is strong here, he does not have super-strength, and the story belongs to the realm of crime thrillers rather than fantasy. Nevertheless, I’m absolutely delighted at having had the opportunity to cover it, because it’s a real treat. The central conceit in itself is charming; Pagano is essentially playing himself (which is to say, the actor who played Maciste in CABIRIA), and he finds himself adopting the character of his persona to perform his own acts of heroism, and by the end of the movie, he’s even calling himself Maciste. There are two really striking things about this movie. First, Pagano performs his own impressive stunts. Second, a wicked sense of humor pervades the film; I laughed more often watching this movie than I do most comedies from the period. In particular, I liked a gag in which a criminal trying to escape from Maciste successfully jumps off of moving train… only to be scooped up by Maciste a few windows down and pulled back inside. Quite frankly, this movie was a lot of fun.

THE MYSTERY OF MR. X (1934)
Article 4172 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-5-2013
Directed by Edgar Selwyn
Featuring Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Allan, Lewis Stone
Country: USA
What it is: Crime thriller

A jewel thief becomes the prime suspect in a series of serial killings of police officers when his theft of a diamond coincides with the time and place of one of the murders. The thief, whose identity is not yet known to the police, decides to try to find the murderer himself, but can he do it before the police track him down?

I found this title listed in a book called “The A-Z of Horror Films”, and I may not have covered it otherwise; most of the other books (like the Willis and Walt Lee guides) reject it. And to an extent, those other books are right; it is primarily a crime drama, and much of the plot seems more concerned with the romantic triangle involving the jewel thief, the commissioner’s daughter, and her boyfriend. Still, the plot does involve a serial killer, and there is a certain amount of horror content to the scenes where he stalks the police officers and kills them with a sword hidden in a cane. Those interested in the horror content only might want to catch the first twenty minutes; those who hang through the whole thing will find it’s a not-bad little thriller, once you get past the romance.

MOTOR PIRATES (1906)
aka The Modern Pirates
Article 4134 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-19-2013
Directed by Arthur Melbourne Cooper
Cast unknown
Country: UK
What it is: Science fiction thriller

Criminals use an armored car to perform robberies, but the police get on their trail.

Armored cars aren’t science fiction anymore, but back in 1906, they were, and this one (which is vaguely submarine-shaped and has a hood that opens up like a monster opening its mouth) looks pretty exotic. Even more interesting is that this short is played more for thrills than laughs, which is rather unusual for its time. This is not to say that there aren’t a few laughs here; some of the cops’ actions seem vaguely comic, and there is something rather funny about seeing the car open its “mouth” and swallow things. Still, the emphasis is on action and thrills, with several people killed in the opening scene and some early stunt work. In some ways, this is a fairly impressive little short, and I’m glad it just got saved from my “ones-that-got-away” list, which it entered yesterday.

THE MYSTERY OF THE ROCKS OF KADOR (1912)
aka Le mystere des roches de Kador, In the Grip of the Vampire
Article 4116 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-26-2012
Directed by Leonce Perret
Featuring Suzanne Grandais, Emile Keppens, Leonce Perret
Country: France
What it is: Melodrama

An heiress is under the guardianship of her tutor, but the latter stands to inherit the fortune for himself is something happens to his ward. The tutor plots against the heiress…

One of the first things I noticed about this one was how familiar the basic premise was. Then I realized it was the same premise that drives the whole serial THE PERILS OF PAULINE, and the fact that the villain of that serial resembles the villain of this short (played by the director, Leonce Perret) makes me wonder if this might have influenced the other one. This is also one of those movies that ended up on my “ones that got away” list because I hadn’t been able to match up the title that I was given (IN THE GRIP OF THE VAMPIRE) with the French title of this one; it was only with the help of a member of CHFB that I was able to make the connection. The fantastic content of this one includes a drug that renders the heroine unconscious, and an original and rather intriguing cure for the madness of the heroine; the crime is recreated in a film and shown to the heiress, thus restoring her sanity. On the surface the story seems a bit silly, but Leonce Perret was a skilled and innovative director, and that skill goes a long way towards making this one an intriguing and fun movie, with strong acting, creative staging, and a nice sense of character.

EIN MANN GEHT DURCH DIE WAND (1959)
aka The Man Who Walked through the Wall
Article 4114 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-24-2012
Directed by Ladislao Vajda
Featuring Heinz Ruhmann, Rudolf Vogel, Hubert von Meyerinck
Country: West Germany
What it is: Fantasy comedy

When a clerk develops the ability to walk through walls, he uses it to take vengeance on his boss and to romance a young lady he has fallen for.

When I noticed that this movie was classified as a ‘comedy’ and a ‘romance’ on IMDB, and knowing that the movie was about a man who developed the ability to walk through walls, I found myself wondering if this was a remake of MR. PEEK-A-BOO. And, sure enough, both movies are based on the same source novel. I was only able to find this one in a German language version, but having already a certain familiarity with the basic story, and the fact that much of what happens is conveyed visually, I more or less was able to follow the main thread of the action. And, despite the language barrier, I found I liked this one better than either of the other two versions I’ve seen; it not only makes much better use of the central gimmick, but I sense it has a bit more warmth and likability around the edges. Heinz Ruhmann is quite effective in the title role, and my favorite scene has him getting drunk and using his power frivolously. All in all, the language barrier didn’t keep me from enjoying this one.

MONSIEUR DE CRAC (1912)
aka Baron Munchhausen
Article 4035 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-18-2012
Directed by Emile Cohl
No cast
Country: France
What it is: Animated comic adventures

Monsieur de Crac travels the world and has a series of amazing adventures.

Emile Cohl was a lot better at animating flights of fancy than he was at telling a story, and this is largely a disconnected series of adventures in which various strange and amazing things happen. Monsieur de Crac travels the world on his horse, survives being cut in half, descends into a volcano, learns to fly, etc. Though it’s amusing enough, one can start sensing a little the limitations of his style here, and I can’t help but think that that Winsor McCay was just around the corner here preparing to take animation to a whole new level. Still, it is a lot of fun to see these Cohl animated shorts.

M.M.M. 83 (1966)
aka Missione mortale Molo 83
Article 4024 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-5-2012
Directed by Sergio Bergonzelli
Featuring Fred Beir, Gerard Blain, Alberto Dalbes
Country: Italy / France
What it is: Spyghetti

When half of a secret formula for a super fuel is stolen and the noted scientist who invented it is murdered, a secret agent is assigned to a) protect the scientist’s assistant, and b) recover the formula.

Outside of the opening scene where the fuel is being used in a car race, the science fiction content in this one is pure Gizmo Maguffin; it’s never used again, and merely serves as the prize in a typical Eurospy outing. This one even lacks the gimmickry which can often enhance the fantastic content of a Bond-era spy story. As for the movie itself, I’d rate it about average; I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse. There’s lots of car chases, fist fights and gunplay, but nothing you haven’t seen before. This one’s a time-killer.