Only a fragment of this George Melies short survives today, and it shows him once again departing from the customary trick photography for which he is known to deliver a broad comedy. The 100 seconds that survive don't make much sense to be honest, but what humour there is looks as if it was enjoyed more by the actors than it would be by an audience.
4 Reviews
An Act of Cruelty
Hitchcoc21 November 2017
Some flowers for a stage actress are given to a very large cleaning lady. When she reacts with gratitude, it becomes obvious that a prank was pulled and she was the victim. She is embarrassed and left crying. I would imagine if the film was still in existence there would be some kind of quid pro quo. As it is, there is hardly enough to make a decent reaction to.
Unfortunately a Confusing Fragment
Tornado_Sam18 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
In 1908, French filmmaker Georges Méliès found himself faced with a new problem: the trick films, for which he had once been so well known for, were now entirely out of style. The theatrical sets and beautiful girls which had originally marked his fame were now outdated in the modern slapstick comedies and dark melodramas being made, and he now had to put away the tricks nearly for good. His output that entire year consisted almost completely of comedies and the like, and as a result little of his work from that year is given recognition due to being so dramatically different when compared to the trick films of years before.
This film by Méliès is a comedy that is none other than an incomplete fragment with very little story. According to the numbers in the Star Film Catalogue, the original film was probably about four minutes in length. The plot is basically about a Stage-Door Johnnie who has a practical joke played on him, one which I'm not giving it away even though the fragment is so confusing few will laugh anyway. The remaining scrap is two scenes and while the basic gag is there, a piece of slapstick at the beginning of the fragment has no relevance due to the lost scenes preceding it. This film really needs to have a complete print found of it; what's here is interesting to me if not anyone else and when they find the complete thing (if at all) then I hope I'm alive to watch it. In the meantime, a curiosity only to fans of the director and not one for those new to his work.
This film by Méliès is a comedy that is none other than an incomplete fragment with very little story. According to the numbers in the Star Film Catalogue, the original film was probably about four minutes in length. The plot is basically about a Stage-Door Johnnie who has a practical joke played on him, one which I'm not giving it away even though the fragment is so confusing few will laugh anyway. The remaining scrap is two scenes and while the basic gag is there, a piece of slapstick at the beginning of the fragment has no relevance due to the lost scenes preceding it. This film really needs to have a complete print found of it; what's here is interesting to me if not anyone else and when they find the complete thing (if at all) then I hope I'm alive to watch it. In the meantime, a curiosity only to fans of the director and not one for those new to his work.
Fragment Only
Michael_Elliott21 August 2012
Buncoed Stage Johnnie (1908)
aka Pour l'étoile S.V.P.
This Georges Melies film is one of several to appear in only a fragment form. The film opens up with a title card explaining what happens in the missing parts of the movie. Basically a man wants to give some flowers to a stage star but a prankster instead gives them to an obese cleaning woman. This comedy only lasts a couple minutes and it seems only the last minutes of the film survive. I'm not sure how long this thing originally ran but if it wasn't for the introduction you'd really have no way of knowing what it was about as the footage that's here really isn't clear in regards to what it's about. I guess this would have made for a mildly amusing comedy but in its current state it's really impossible to judge.
aka Pour l'étoile S.V.P.
This Georges Melies film is one of several to appear in only a fragment form. The film opens up with a title card explaining what happens in the missing parts of the movie. Basically a man wants to give some flowers to a stage star but a prankster instead gives them to an obese cleaning woman. This comedy only lasts a couple minutes and it seems only the last minutes of the film survive. I'm not sure how long this thing originally ran but if it wasn't for the introduction you'd really have no way of knowing what it was about as the footage that's here really isn't clear in regards to what it's about. I guess this would have made for a mildly amusing comedy but in its current state it's really impossible to judge.
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