Review of Adventures of William Tell

Watching this short film, which runs for slightly under a minute, I rather thought of the creation of Frankenstein's monster than of Guillaume Tell to be honest. If the title didn't suggest it I'd really have never considered the creature to be the Swiss national hero. Anyway, the short film is an okay watch at best. Méliès has done better and worse on many occasions. The possibly most interesting thing was the frequent use of stunt dolls in this one, especially during that scene where Tell literally beats the living crap out of the clown. I took me definitely by surprise. It must be one of the most violent scenes from movies of the 19th century. Of course there's a shooting or beheading here and there and some boxing footage, but this was entirely different and came almost out of nowhere.