AN INTERESTING STORY (1904)
Article 4159 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-17-2013
Directed by James Williamson
Cast unknown
Country: UK
What it is: Comic short

A man becomes so engrossed in the novel that he is reading that he pays no attention to anything going on around him, and when he leaves to go to work, he becomes a danger to himself and others.

This is one of the better comic shorts of the early silent era; it takes a simple straightforward concept and sticks to it, exploring the comic possibilities for its four-minute running time. It’s actually quite realistic for most of its running time, and it only verges onto the fantastic in its final moments, when, after what would be usually a fatal encounter with a steamroller, he is revived by a couple of passers-by armed with bicycle pumps. This is a charming and fun little short.

THE INN WHERE NO MAN RESTS (1903)
aka L’auberge du bon repos
Article 4158 By Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-16-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Comic trick short

A drunken man tries to settle in at an inn for the night, but strange events prevent him from getting any sleep.

This is something of an earlier version of THE DREAM OF A RAREBIT FIEND, and, like that short, it features a man trying to rest in a bed that won’t stay still. Granted, there are a lot of other things going on in this one, like a painting that blows out candles and eats things, a coatrack that comes to life, and the ubiquitous Meliesian tumbling imp. Of course, one of the ambiguities of this one is whether these events are really happening or whether they’re hallucinations of the drunken man. It’s not one of his best, but it’s fun and mildly entertaining.

THE INFERNAL CAULDRON (1903)
aka Le chaudron infernal
Article 4157 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-15-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: Eerie trick short

Two devils sacrifice three women in a cauldron and summon forth their spirits.

This is one of Melies’s more impressive trick films, not so much because of the complexity of the special effects, but because the hand-tinted color is particularly vivid, and there’s an authentically eerie air to the proceedings, especially when the three spirits manifest themselves. There’s not really much of a story, and what there is is a bit muddled in the final moments; I suspect that the spirits may be taking revenge on the devils, but it looks like some action is lost in the splices. This may be one of Melies’s most pronounced forays into horror.

IN THE BARBER SHOP (1908)
aka Salon de coiffure
Article 4156 By Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-14-2014
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Comic short

At a barber shop, a black man and a white woman are being served when the entrance of a beautiful woman distracts the barbers, causing unexpected results.

Based on what I’ve seen of Melies’s work from 1908, I think he was really trying to stretch out and experiment with other types of films than the special-effects laden ones he’d been known for, but the results were generally not good. This particular short is not a high point for him. One of Melies’s biggest problems as a director was that he often didn’t know how to stage the action so that the viewer would know what to look at and what was important; there’s too much frantic action over the whole frame. When you’re trying for comedy, that can cause problems, especially when you’re setting up for the big gags. There’s a streak of racism to this one as well; the fantastic content is centered around the fact that both the man and and the woman change their races as a result of the barbers’ distractions, and when the man is black and the woman is white, he’s constantly coming on to her, but when the races are reversed, he spurns her. Yet, for all these problems, the short isn’t a total disaster; there are a few interesting touches, but it’s far from Melies’s best work.

AN IMPOSSIBLE BALANCING FEAT (1902)
aka L’equilibre impossible
Article 4155 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-12-2013
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring the Georges Melies quartet
Country: France
What is it: Trick film

And, for my next trick, I’ll clone myself into three other people, who will balance themselves on my head and hands.

Here’s another trick film from Melies, and it’s a fairly bare-bones one in that it’s largely to illustrate the single trick of having three copies of himself balancing on top of him. It’s not quite as seamless as some of his other trick shorts, but it is rather fun to figure out how he did the trick. It’s minor Melies, and mildly amusing.