Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)

Directors:

Wallace McCutcheon
Edwin S. Porter

Writer:

Winsor McCay (comic strip)

Release Date:

February 1906 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Fantasy

Plot:

The fiend faces the spectacular mind-bending consequences of his free-wheeling rarebit binge.

Plot Keywords:

Rarebit | Dream | Bed | Beer | Flying Bed

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Jack Brawn

(as John P. Brawn)

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Edison Manufacturing Company

Trivia:

Based on the comic strip of the same name by Winsor McKay. This was the Edison Company's most popular film release in 1906, selling 192 copies during the year.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Medium: Bite Me (#6.6)" (2009)

More Than A Footnote

Although Edwin S. Porter is well known as the director of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, the landmark short that combined a good story line, cross-editing and other remarkable techniques for its era, his role in American cinema history has largely been relegated to a footnote: Edison invents the motion picture camera, goes the hagiography, and Griffith comes along and perfected the story-telling of cinema. And, oh yeah, Porter directed this movie in 1902 that is actually all right.

But Porter was actually a wildly experimental cineaste. In more than 100 movies, he experimented with cross-cutting, story-telling, breaking the fourth wall -- remember at the end of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY where the robber shoots a gun at the audience? -- and did lots of camera tricks, particularly here, where there are a couple of shots that have triple exposures.... and in an era when everything had to be done in the camera, using masks and stopwatches, he got some remarkable effects, which he used with great good humor.

This trick movie is based on Windsor McKay's DREAMS OF A RAREBIT FIEND series of cartoons. McKay did a series of cartoons based on it in the early 1920s, but this is pretty heady stuff for the era. It was Edison's blockbuster for 1906 -- they sold 192 copies of the film!