The director of this short subject was Georges Hatot, who specialized, at this point, in taking famous historical paintings (like David's DEATH OF MARAT) and turning them into films. The couple of surviving examples were very elaborately colored and you may, if you like, view this one on Youtube.
For a couple of decades, there was a fight between units of film dynamics: was it the individual shot, in which case film could be viewed as a sort of moving tableaux vivante, or was it the scene, in which case it could be viewed as a relative of the theatrical drama? Eventually the latter won, although the tableaux vivante shot has remained as a subtext, both in efforts like American GANGSTER, in which Norman Rockwell's famous Thanksgiving picture was reimagined with a Black family and given some excitement by means of a moving camera; and in several recent film versions of comics and graphic novels in which the observant viewer can discern panels from the original work, which tend to hang on the screen. However, a moving camera and the shorter length of an average shot has made this sort of work an evolutionary dead end.
For a couple of decades, there was a fight between units of film dynamics: was it the individual shot, in which case film could be viewed as a sort of moving tableaux vivante, or was it the scene, in which case it could be viewed as a relative of the theatrical drama? Eventually the latter won, although the tableaux vivante shot has remained as a subtext, both in efforts like American GANGSTER, in which Norman Rockwell's famous Thanksgiving picture was reimagined with a Black family and given some excitement by means of a moving camera; and in several recent film versions of comics and graphic novels in which the observant viewer can discern panels from the original work, which tend to hang on the screen. However, a moving camera and the shorter length of an average shot has made this sort of work an evolutionary dead end.
