It's hard to rate a piece of a film. The scene that we have is quite nice. A woman, a cook in a bakery, has a great talent for playing the violin. She gets everyone all excited and dancing until the owner comes in an puts a stop to it. At least that's what I think. We have no foundation for the characters. Nevertheless, it looked like a good story and it's sad we may never know more.
3 Reviews
Fragment Only
Michael_Elliott19 August 2012
The Broken Violin (1908)
aka Lully ou le violon brisé
If a violin was actually broken here we don't get to see it. Sadly this is one of many Georges Melies films that are only available in a fragment. Hopefully one day a complete print will turn up but until then at least we have this. The film starts off in some sort of bakery as the boss starts giving orders and then a bit later we see a young man pull out a violin he has been hiding and start to play it. The film then flashes to another location but this is where it cuts off so I'm not certain where the story went from here. Again, if you're a die-hard Melies fan going through every film on the Flicker Alley box set then you'll want to watch this one but everyone else will be OK skipping it. What's here really didn't look all that special but it's hard to judge the film since the second half is missing.
aka Lully ou le violon brisé
If a violin was actually broken here we don't get to see it. Sadly this is one of many Georges Melies films that are only available in a fragment. Hopefully one day a complete print will turn up but until then at least we have this. The film starts off in some sort of bakery as the boss starts giving orders and then a bit later we see a young man pull out a violin he has been hiding and start to play it. The film then flashes to another location but this is where it cuts off so I'm not certain where the story went from here. Again, if you're a die-hard Melies fan going through every film on the Flicker Alley box set then you'll want to watch this one but everyone else will be OK skipping it. What's here really didn't look all that special but it's hard to judge the film since the second half is missing.
A Méliès Biography
Tornado_Sam20 April 2017
"The Broken Violin" was among several of the Star Film Company's output in 1908 that, while generally attributed to Georges Méliès himself, was in fact more likely directed in Studio B by the filmmaker's production assistant, a man known simply by the name Manuel. Although generally speaking Manuel was a better actor than he was a director, what is left of this originally ten-minute work seems to be supervised competently, almost as though it was under the boss's direction himself, though the lack of Méliès's presence onscreen definitely shows. Nonetheless, it is an unusual film for the Star Film Company's catalog overall, mostly due to actually being a work of historical fiction - a biography of the famous 17th century composer and instrumentalist Jean-Baptiste Lully (hence the French title and explaining the period sets and costumes).
What remains of "The Broken Violin" is probably the opening scene, which appears to be introducing the main character; the title is obviously referencing an incident which occurred later in. The film begins with the interior of a kitchen, showing a lot of busy helpers and maids working. A new helper (Lully himself) is brought in, who does not seem enthusiastic about working there and once everybody leaves the room he begins to play a hidden violin - before being discovered by the others. However, everyone appears to like his playing so that he is soon playing for all while they dance with each-other and neglect their work. Interrupted suddenly by the boss, a rich nobleman, Lully is dismissed and everyone scolded for fooling around. The scene then changes to the interior of a ornately-decorated parlor, but sadly only a few seconds of this scene remain, with little action occurring in what is left of it.
The film was advertised as having four scenes and a ballet, so unfortunately a lot of the story is currently missing, with the violin probably being broken farther in. No descriptions of this movie appear to exist either, and even the Méliès historian John Frazer is clueless as to what the rest of it featured. Thus, with seven minutes lost, it is hard to rate accurately, and probably something the average person would be fine missing out on. Although even as a fragment it definitely serves at least as an interesting example of how Méliès (or Manuel) had to begin producing more works of realism, since the fantasy and trick films the company had specialized in previously were going out of style.
What remains of "The Broken Violin" is probably the opening scene, which appears to be introducing the main character; the title is obviously referencing an incident which occurred later in. The film begins with the interior of a kitchen, showing a lot of busy helpers and maids working. A new helper (Lully himself) is brought in, who does not seem enthusiastic about working there and once everybody leaves the room he begins to play a hidden violin - before being discovered by the others. However, everyone appears to like his playing so that he is soon playing for all while they dance with each-other and neglect their work. Interrupted suddenly by the boss, a rich nobleman, Lully is dismissed and everyone scolded for fooling around. The scene then changes to the interior of a ornately-decorated parlor, but sadly only a few seconds of this scene remain, with little action occurring in what is left of it.
The film was advertised as having four scenes and a ballet, so unfortunately a lot of the story is currently missing, with the violin probably being broken farther in. No descriptions of this movie appear to exist either, and even the Méliès historian John Frazer is clueless as to what the rest of it featured. Thus, with seven minutes lost, it is hard to rate accurately, and probably something the average person would be fine missing out on. Although even as a fragment it definitely serves at least as an interesting example of how Méliès (or Manuel) had to begin producing more works of realism, since the fantasy and trick films the company had specialized in previously were going out of style.
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