User Reviews

This short film consists of a crazy old colonel being asked to entertain party guests about his exploits of daring. However, being a totally insane old coot, he runs amok acting out his war-time heroics--smashing and throwing everything in the room!

When someone today watches films from the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, they may not realize just how far films have come--and assume the old film is terrible. But what is important to know is the context. Films as we know them today just didn't exist--and I am not just talking about the sound or color. The plots, scripts, characterizations, etc. were all pretty much unimportant in these earliest films. In many cases, the director just yelled out suggestions for improvisations and that was THE script through the 1910s. So, when "Le Récit du Colonel" seems like a rather silly and insignificant one-joke film, compared to the average film of the day, it was darn funny and well-constructed. Really. Given the context, it was a successful film and is mildly watchable today--if you are a fan of these very early films. Otherwise, you may not get much out of this one.

Le Recit du colonel (1907)

*** (out of 4)

A dinner party is behind held when the oldest man there is asked to tell one of his famous stories. The nutty guy then goes into a war story but he begins to suffer some sort of flashback and starts re-enacting the events, which just leads to the guests being injured. In terms of story this Gaumont film really doesn't offer anything that we haven't seen in the work of Edison or Biograph but there are enough laughs here to make it worth viewing. I think the biggest key are actually all of the supporting players sitting around the dinner table because they're what makes the comedy work so well. We get the old man going crazy but it's the reactions of those around the table that get the laughs. The way they all shake in fear and eventually take off running is what made me laugh. The timing of them was done extremely well. In terms of directing there's really nothing overly special here as the camera pretty much stays in place and Feuillade just lets the action go. I'm sure many current film goers won't find anything special here but those fans of early cinema should be entertained by the comedy and action.

Louis Feuillade was Gaumont's jack-of-all-trades director for about fifteen years, during which he directed classics like LES VAMPIRE. But in directing an estimated 800 films, he did a lot of quickies; his short comedies tended to be one-joke bits, told, in this period, on a sound stage, with a lot of people in a constricted space, relying on a lot of violence.

In this one, a colonel tells a dinner party about a battle, destroying the dining room in the process. Once the joke is begun, there is little variation on it and the net result is not very good. Well, his films would get better....