The Artist's Dilemma (1901)

Director:

Edwin S. Porter

Release Date:

14 December 1901 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Fantasy

Plot:

The scene opens in an artist's studio, the artist asleep in his chair. A large old fashioned clock opens...

Runtime:

2 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Edison Manufacturing Company

Funny and worth seeing after more than 100 years

This short film from Edison Films is very much a product of its time. The film is relatively short, as most films were in 1901 and the subject matter is very derivative of the work being done in France by Georges Méliès. Méliès was a magician who began making many cute little fantasy films--often involving the use of camera tricks such as stopping the camera and carefully restarting it to make it look like things or someone has disappeared. This film in so many ways looks exactly like one of the Méliès films except that the great French director isn't in this film (he played the lead in most of his films).

The film begins with a sleeping painter. A woman steps out of the grandmother clock and asks to be painted. A moment later, a clown also steps out of the clock, but instead of being painted, the clown takes the brush and magically paints the woman and the painting comes to life and the lady and her painted double do a little dance. It was marvelous entertainment for 1901, though today it is obvious how they did this. However, the film STILL provides a few laughs--especially when the artist tries to kiss the lady and she disappears and the clown appears in her place. It's all very cute and entertaining, but we have seen it before.