Segundo de Chomon was one of the great stars of the French film industry between 19, but along with so many of early cinema’s pioneers, was forgotten with the coming of the feature film. This is one of only two short films on our list, and very much worth to check out. The sequence where he plummets back to Earth is downright psychedelic, again incorporating a technique that had not been seen on film at that time. The film contains perhaps the most ambitious camera moves made up to that point, as the camera is dragged along the ceiling of the studio, filming the floor, masked as the night sky, with the protagonist “climbing” a seemingly endless ladder to the planet of war. But rather than copy, Chomon almost spoofs Méliès, and instead of using Méliès’ tricks, he creates his very own. The building blocks of the story were cliché at the time, and the film could easily be derided as yet another Georges Méliès imitation. The movie chronicles a scientists trip to Jupiter, where he gets into a fight with the god of lightning, and tumbles down through space into his own bed, where he awakes from the dream. His pièce de resistance may well be the 1907 short film A Trip to Jupiter or Le voyage sur Jupiter, a wonderfully playful, imaginative and pioneering piece of avantgarde comedy, beautifully hand-coloured by Pathé’s small army of female film painters. Catalan filmmaker Segundo de Chomon was one of the greatest and most imaginative artists in film during the first decade of the 20th century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |