Bombardement d'une maison (1897)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
aka The Last Cartridges
French master Georges Melies re-creates a scene from the Franco-Prussian War, which is a little strange considering the French were embarrassed. One has to wonder how well this thing went over in France at the time of release. With that said, this is an incredibly good-looking little gem that manages to be incredibly entertaining through it's rather short running time. At just over a minute no one should be expecting some sort of story but I must admit that the action was great and the set was too. The men are basically hold up in a building in ruins that has been torn apart due to the gunshots and various battles. We see the men take aim and try to protect themselves. That's pretty much all that happens but one can't help but be extremely impressed with the director who shows a lot of imagination for the action scenes and especially how the building slowly starts to fall apart. I thought the actors did a good job especially considering most people just jumped in from of the camera and moved around like jello. Fans of Melies will certainly be entertained by this one.