The Red Spectre (1907) User Reviews

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show.

[punishmentpark · 8/10 · 7 July 2013]

I must say I had expected more of this, though I did quite enjoy myself. I came across a version without music, but I'm sure it's not intended that way, so I chose some Spanish guitar songs from Pepe Romero to play as soundtrack, and it sufficed for the greater part.

The 'story' was pretty hard to follow, although all there seems to be going on is a horned reaper / magician performing his black arts on some harmless, innocent women (but are they ever...?), but in the end he meets his demise through one of them.

It's full of visual playfulness and ingenuity that makes it quite pleasing to the eye, though I had expected a little more in terms of different settings and such.

Still, this is very much up my alley. 8 out of 10.

Stylish and inventive fantasy short

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 3 April 2012]

The Red Spectre is a trick film from France in the style of Georges Méliès; although this one was directed by Ferdinand Zecca. It has all of the visual invention you would expect and it also has a nice red coloured tint which is perfect for its atmosphere.

It's set in an underground cavern and features a demon warlock. This evil character possesses souls of several women. He manipulates them in several ways and generates television-like screens. All the while he is counterbalanced by a female nemesis that thwarts his evil actions and ultimately destroys him.

It may be a short film but it's full to the brim with visual ideas. Characters appear and disappear, are shrunken and burst into flames. Walls are constructed and turn into giant monitors and rock faces move aside to show a cavern full of hell-like fires. It's relentlessly inventive basically. Worth seeing if you like the visual innovation of the earliest days of cinema.

What does Satan do when he is bored? He puts on a magic show, of course!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 14 February 2014]

This is one of the weirdest films I've ever seen from the filmmaker Segundo de Chomón--and much of this is because the film is set in Hell and the leading man is the Devil himself! Interestingly, he looks much more like a skeleton than 'Ol Scratch and he is bored. In fact, he's so bored that he decides to put on a magic show! Assisted by his main squeeze (Julienne Mathieu--the director's wife), the Devil does one trick after another after another. In fact, there are so many that it's fatiguing. It's much like watching three or four of Georges Méliès films (who Chomón is clearly copying from) and stringing them into one long film.

The film has some serious pluses--nice costumes, terrific sets and a weirdness that is wonderful. A huge minus that Chomón isn't innovating here but is 'copying' the work of another man--using a lot of the tricks innovated by Méliès. Fortunately, however, he still manages to make a very nice film.

Bizarre and fascinating

[wmorrow59 · 9/10 · 10 August 2002]

The first decade of the twentieth century saw the production of dozens of brief "trick films" which pushed the boundaries of the new medium, and France was the capital of this activity. Georges Méliès is the best known creator of these films, but The Red Spectre, which was produced at the Pathé Studio as a collaboration between Méliès' fellow pioneers Ferdinand Zecca and Segundo De Chomon, is perhaps the most bizarre and fascinating of them all. Or at least, allowing for the fact that so many of these films are lost, it certainly ranks with the best of the survivors. It is better seen than described, genuinely dreamlike in its images and transitions, and quite strange, but quite satisfying as well. The action lasts only about 8 or 9 minutes, but when it's over you feel as if you've been permitted to visit another world. When The Red Spectre was first exhibited the black & white footage was hand-colored to produce a dazzling effect, and happily, this material survives: a color print was discovered in a junk-yard in Mexico, and purchased for $25.00!

Our setting is a mysterious underground grotto, and our "host" is a demonic magician who seems to be toying with the souls or spirits of several captive women. He causes them to levitate, then burst into flames; he captures their ashes in bottles, brings them back to life in miniaturized form, etc. The magician is opposed throughout by a Good Fairy who resembles Peter Pan (portrayed by a woman, as Peter traditionally is on stage). The precise meaning of the action is difficult to determine at times, but the central conflict amounts to a struggle between the forces of Good and Evil.

One effect is especially notable: when the wicked magician produces three glass bottles, each holding a tiny woman prisoner, and brings them downstage to allow for a close-up, the scene instantly reminds latter day viewers of a similar sequence in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Did James Whale see this film, or is the similarity a coincidence? Notable, too, is the depiction of a device very much like television-- strongly suggested by the evil conjurer's magic screens, each of which depicts a series of moving images. Here's a real cinematic milestone: a film that predicts the coming of T.V., and, on top of that, attributes its invention to a demon!

Satan is a Magician

[peapulation · 5/10 · 22 January 2011]

In 1907, we all agree, cinema audiences could be easily amused, so to say. But even today, to look at the pioneering cinema ways used to trick the human mind is somewhat fascinating. I, myself, get more of a kick from watching these old fashioned movie magicians than in a live magic show where everything is overdone. Here, the camera is still, Satan is a guy in a Halloween costume - but see how the frame is used to its fullest, the sets are so creepy and the eerie atmosphere kicks off right away, when we see a twirling coffin magically appear, and the magic show begins.

A treat for all fans of novelty early cinema.

Are "Satan at Play" and this film the same movie?

[Tornado_Sam · 15 July 2017]

Before I go into this film, I would like to point out that it and another film by the same person entitled "Satan at Play" appear to be one and the same, though I haven't seen the latter. Still, IMDb gives both titles a page, and both titles have reviews written on them. Also, two colored prints of this film are floating around YouTube: one with a purplish grotto, and another with a milder, brownish tint which I've seen.

Now to the film. It's about a mysterious spectre who puts on a diabolical magic show. Many of these tricks are something you'd see Melies doing years before, although one scene uses a closeup, which you don't see in Melies's work. There is also a subplot of one spirit constantly trying to spoil his fun, and in the end destroying him.

For 1907 this was actually a full-length feature, at 10 whole minutes long. The beginning is entirely tinted red, but later other colors come into play. The demon's makeup is really quite beautiful and ghastly, and the sets are pretty good. The main problem is that the pacing is off. In Melies's work you're treated to one trick after another, but here there's lots of set-up and it does drag. That said, I would agree with those who say that while watching it it's as though you have entered another world, because it's visually astounding and has some excellent tricks. Even despite lack of story this is a very nice watch.

Way Over The Top

[boblipton · 9/10 · 7 August 2020]

Here's Segundo de Chomon challenging Melies as the master of the trick film, using the sort of magician's act that Melies did. It's a combination of stage magic and movie magic -- if you look carefully, you can see the moments when the camera stops and something is substituted.

Because whenever Melies got before the cameras and did his act -- he was a stage magician and had gotten into making movies to fill up the show at his Theatre Robert-Houdin -- you could see his pleasure in performing, there was no way that de Chomon could match that. So he stuck his unnamed performing in a skeleton costume with horns and a cape. It's so over-the-top that it's magnificent.

Uninspired.

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 7 November 2009]

If you've seen any of Georges Melies films there probably isn't anything here that you haven't seen before and, apart from one brief sequence, this film is pretty dull as a result.

The film takes place in an underground cavern where a skeletal demon amuses himself by conjuring up a couple of hypnotised girls whom he wraps in plastic sheet before levitating them. The sheets burst into flames as they hover before the demon makes them disappear. A good spirit then appears to repeatedly spoil the demon's fun. This goes on for the best part of ten minutes and, to be honest, it gets a little tedious after a while.

The one good sequence comes when the demon places three jars on a table then carries the table towards the camera. It's an unusual shot for 1907 and is quite effective - as is the demon's make-up.

Hail Satan! And Women who defeat him!

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 24 November 2016]

Also, the story for this is somewhat confusing; if I hadn't seen the brief plot summary on Letterboxd, I wouldn't know (until near the end anyway) that this was about a Good Woman fighting the devil or a demon of hell or whoever this guy in a robe and skull-face is. It seemed if it was about a woman who might have even been this demon's boss, or maybe even some annoying underling, screwing with this Demon-Man has a penchant for bottling up women (literally, you can see this in full close-up, and that's how it seems - a full 8 years before Griffith did it in in Birth of a Nation you get a close-up, albeit in camera and with separate shots without a cut).

But at any rate, this is a fun short because the filmmaking is clever and inventive: we're seeing the process this devil takes with his female wares/prisoners, and it's through blazing red and orange colors (thanks silent film technology!) and with a magician's eye for trickery. By the end 'good' does prevail, but the joy is in the evil, if that makes sense; it's filmmakers reveling in the villainy of this Demon, or at least playing with the line between showing something as being *bad* as in a devil, or something that is... enjoyable to do, like, uh, bottling up women and making them prisoners. Or slaves. Or, I don't know what. This is simply cool, and it also empowers women to fight Satan's ways at the end of it all! How to do that, well, don't look at this for answers to that question, just watch magic tricks!

The Magic Show...

[azathothpwiggins · 15 February 2024]

Director Segundo de Chomon's THE RED SPECTRE is a wonderful, subterranean magic show, put on by the skeletal entity of the title. It features various female subjects in various tricks and fantastical situations.

Mr. De Chomon once again shows his sense of humor, along with his love of the supernatural. The special effects are, as always, some of the best of the era. Of special interest are the women in the bottles, the flip-screen images, and the reverse-action wall-building sequences.

Horror fans should find this short film fascinating, since it is one of the vintage examples of what was yet to come...

Could have been great if you had any clue what was happening

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 19 October 2017]

"Le spectre rouge" or "The Red Spectre" is a French silent film from 1907, so this one has its 110th anniversary and it is a collaboration between Segundo de Chomón and Ferdinand Zecca, two of the greats from the early days of film, even if their names don't mean anything to most people today. It's their loss as these two were highly prolific and successful back in the day. And there work here looks spectacular in terms of effects, costumes and even colors. The red referenced in the title was nothing short of amazing and this movie was certainly far ahead of its time. But that is also a problem because the medium was not yet ready for the minds of SdC and Zecca and the evidence are these 9 minutes here. Without the use of sound or at least intertitles, it is virtually impossible to understand even very basically what was going on. Such a shame as this little film looked so good. But story trumps everything and that's why eventually I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

A nice look at all the tricks that Georges Méliès created for the big screen.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 14 October 2018]

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Georges Méliès was a very successful filmmaker. Much of it was because Méliès was originally a stage magician and he thought like one when making films. As a result, many of his films look like magic shows and the director used a lot of camera tricks to make things seemingly appear and disappear. Soon, others began copying his films....and among them, the Spaniard, Segundo de Chomón, was among the best....though his versions of the great master's films often were second-rate in quality.

"Le Spectre Rouge" is one of the best Chomón films to watch. This is because he crams every sort of camera trick into the film plus it's all in the form of a magic show. And, to get it all there, the film is about 9 minutes in length....which is amazingly long when the average movie was about one to two minutes long! As a result, you get a great homage to Méliès...one where you can see a lot of film footage showing his techniques which Chomón copied. This footage is all in the form of a weird caped skeleton-demon performing magic tricks until the tables are turned on him.

As far as how watchable all this is, it depends on you. If you love very, very early films by all means watch. Otherwise, you might find it tough going even if the film is technically brilliant.

A Magic Act-- Guys, it's just a magic act!

[AnnieLola · 9/10 · 9 January 2010]

"The Red Spectre" is simply a themed stage magician's routine enhanced by trick photography. One needn't trouble over any real plot line, and there isn't any point to what happens to the women in the routine; they're all Lovely Assistants assisting the magician! Notice how they pose becomingly in their pretty costumes, preen, dance and nod to the audience? Even the three shown miniaturized in the milk bottles look quite happy and pleasant, since they're just doing their job of being decorative parts of the act.

The "Good Fairy/Spirit" looks more like a rival magician (notice her bat-winged cape), and far from being a contest between Good and Evil, it's more a challenge between equals. This adds a bit more narrative, an element of conflict, but really doesn't seem intended to convey any deep significance. The sorceress is almost another Lovely Assistant, just with a more active role and showing more leg. Notice that far from deploring his dark powers, she appears to absorb them herself at the last by assuming his cloak after having vanquished him.

This is a charming example of stage technique of the time, and the final scenery effects and beauty pageant are quite delightful. Just watch it as an old-time magic act and it makes perfect sense!

Decent Trick Film

[Michael_Elliott · 21 June 2012]

The Red Spectre (1907)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining French film from director Ferdinand Zecca was clearly influenced by the work of Georges Melies. In this film, in what appears to be Hell or something like it, a skeleton brings to life a couple women and then begins to do various tricks with them. That's pretty much everything you need to know in regards to the story as everything else is just one trick after another. There are a few good things about this film but at the same time it's just so easy to see that it's no where near the league of Melies and you have to feel that the French master was doing this type of film a decade earlier and doing it much better. I think the biggest problem is that there's really no strong pacing and after a while the 9-minute running time just feels like it's dragging along. There are several of the tricks, which simply aren't that entertaining and for one good example just check out the one where the skeleton wraps a woman up in some sort of tarp. How the trick was done is easy to spot. There are some good things however and this includes the scenery, which is quite nice to look at. The biggest highlight has to be the very good tinting and especially the reds.