Rebus Film Nr. 1 (1925)

An "extra" shown in two parts at the movie theater, before and after a feature: part one gives the clues to six words in a crossword puzzle, part two gives the answers. In addition to the ... See full summary »

Director:

Paul Leni

Writers:

Hans Brennert (titles), Paul Leni (idea)

Storyline

An "extra" shown in two parts at the movie theater, before and after a feature: part one gives the clues to six words in a crossword puzzle, part two gives the answers. In addition to the visual clues, which are clips of a party, an Asian country, a European city, table games, winter, and bullfighting, there are montages of street scenes and spinning objects. A simple cartoon character, Mr. Rebus, walks the audience through the clues, and title cards encourage the participation of the theatergoers.

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Plot Keywords:

montage | rebus | puzzle | party | bullfighting | 

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Genres:

Short

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Details

Country:

Germany

Also Known As:

Rebus-Film No. 1

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

15 min 15 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Rebus Film Nr. 3 (1925)

User Reviews

Cute but Poor Transfer

This is a filmed crossword puzzle - 3 vertical and 3 horizontal so 6 riddles in all. Visual clues are given and it's up to the audience to solve the puzzle. Except for one of the words, it's pretty easy to solve - though kids might find it challenging. The film is about 15 minutes long and is quite snazzy - lots of camera movement, overlays, animation, all combined together - Leni pulls out all the stops and haves fun in the process. I'd rate it higher except that the transfer is pretty bad in that there's a sizable chunk cut-off on the left hand side making it difficult or even impossible to read some of the inter-titles. Still, a pretty interesting use of the medium. This film can be found on the Waxworks DVD.