One of Melies' super-productions, like VOYAGE A LA LUNE and LA ROYAUME DES FEES, this is a bit of fairy tale, about a minstrel who rescues his love from dungeon, with lots of sparklers, the usual wonderful Melies camera trickery and, in the print I was fortunate enough to see today, lots of hand-tinting. While Melies' day was passing rapidly -- Gaumont and Pathe had caught up with him in camera trickery and, if they did not produce the lush looking background and foreground that Melies specialized in, they were large enough enterprises that they could take away his market -- and Melies' film grammar always remained primitive: usually confined to the proscenium arch, his cutting rarely showed any of the sophistication discovered by George Smith in England and elaborated on by Zecca in France.
Stiill, Melies was putting up a big fight against the competition, and this is an very enjoyable movie to watch. My only issue with it is that I am on the side of the Fee Carabosse -- the minstrel paid her, not with gold, but with sand!
Stiill, Melies was putting up a big fight against the competition, and this is an very enjoyable movie to watch. My only issue with it is that I am on the side of the Fee Carabosse -- the minstrel paid her, not with gold, but with sand!