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Alger: prière du muezzin (1896)
Algeria: The Muezzin's Prayer
The Lumière Brothers had the foresight to see that, in addition to familiar sights of France and snapshots of everyday life, film had the ability to transport viewers to faraway lands: to see places, things, and cultures that they might otherwise not have the opportunity to be exposed to. This insight led to a series of films, produced over several years, that showcased scenes from many different countries: ranging every continent except Antarctica.
The title refers to a muezzin, which is an Islamic crier who intones a call for Muslims to prayer five times a day. Traditionally, the muezzin would stand at the top of a minaret (a tower) or another high part of a mosque so that he could be heard. The muezzin in this film, who appears to be on a rooftop, repeatedly goes from a standing position to kneeling, where he kisses the ground. Bertrand Tavernier, a French filmmaker who narrates the Kino DVD The Lumière Brothers' First Films, reports that a Muslim friend of the Lumière Institute verified that the prayer in the film is made up, a fictional representation for the camera. We may never know the reason why. It is possible that the cameraman told the muezzin how to perform for the camera; it is possible the muezzin was just an actor who made it up on the spot; or it is also possible that the muezzin didn't want to profane an authentic prayer by performing it for a film audience. Whatever the reason, it is unlikely that most audiences of the time would have known the difference.
Andalusian Dance (1896)
Andalusian Dance
Henry Short, an associate and cameraman for Robert W. Paul, traveled to Spain and Portugal to make a 14-part film series, aptly named A Tour in Spain and Portugal. For many years, only one of that collection was believed to have survived: A Sea Cave Near Lisbon. However, in recent years, a second film was recovered due to its preservation as a novelty item called a Filoscope, essentially a flip book that could be used to simulate motion. In fact, a few titles from the R.W. Paul catalog were saved this way, as Short published several of his films in the Filoscope format. These books were able to be re-photographed and animated, allowing previously lost films to be seen again in the 21st century.
For world cinema buffs, Andalusian Dance is one of the oldest surviving films shot in Spain. The dancers are two sisters, Margarida and Amparo Aguilera, who both worked at the Teatro Real Coliseu, a place where Paul's films were on display at the time of this film's production. The two women dance back and forth across a room: one wearing a dress, the other a more masculine outfit. The film quality isn't the greatest, due to it having to be reconstructed from the Filoscope, but it is clear enough for the viewer to follow. Worthwhile mainly as a curiosity.
Panorama de l'arrivée en gare de Perrache pris du train (1896)
Arrival by Train in Perrache
Not to be confused with the same year's Arrival of a Train in Perrache, another Lumière film that shows the train's arrival from the point of view of the station, this film was shot from the moving train itself. This sense of movement, as we watch buildings and landmarks go by, is remarkable for a time in which the vast majority of films, whether filmed inside or outdoors, were shot from a stationary position. In reality, this (and similar Lumière films from the same year) was also shot stationary, but placing the camera on a moving vehicle or platform gives a sense of motion that make these films feel more modern than their contemporaries.
The film opens on the side of a building that quickly whizzes by. As the camera moves past the first few buildings, we get a deeper focus background with a house atop a big hill, move across a river where we can see horse-drawn carriages and people crossing a bridge, track past some trees and buildings with full-side billboards for lingerie, and end up in what appears to be a rail yard. As the film ends, the train is presumably reaching its destination at the station. Arrival by Train is a beautiful film that ranks among the best of the Lumière location shoots. I highly recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in early film history.
Arrivée d'un train à Perrache (1896)
Arrival of a Train in Perrache
Arrival of a Train in Perrache is kind of a companion piece, and reversal, to Arrival by Train in Perrache. Whereas Arrival by Train was a point of view shot from the moving train, this film, like the more famous Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, focuses on the action at the station as the train arrives. As the train pulls into the station, the people waiting at the platform scurry about. The railroad workers scramble to help passengers disembark from the train while several women walk about, looking for their arriving companions.
Although filmed at a different train station, there is little thematically to distance this film from its much more well regarded predecessor La Ciotat. Nor is this film as visually striking as its companion piece, which had the benefit of its sweeping motion. A railroad enthusiast or historian may find some value in this particular piece, but for the average viewer, it suffers from being a lesser entry in an already over-saturated market of railroad films released in 1896.
New York, Whitehall Street (1896)
New York: Whitehall Street
Alexandre Promio is arguably the best filmmaker the Lumières had in their stable of representatives that went abroad to shoot travelogue films. His films show a true eye for detail and composition. To verify this, one only needs to look at his street scenes, the finest of a genre that is rarely interesting to modern viewers beyond academic or historical value.
Whitehall Street is one of several films Promio made in New York City in 1896. This one, shot near Broadway in Manhattan, differs from his other NYC films in that it follows a diagonal composition (a Lumière hallmark) rather than a curved one. A mustached man passes in front of the camera as he walks down the sidewalk. Another man stands on the edge of the street, his back to the camera, before eventually wandering off. A man leads a pair of horses out into the street and attaches them to the front of a horse-drawn streetcar. As the streetcar prepares to head out, two men come running to get on. Several buildings line the street in the background, and in the deep background, a much taller building (perhaps an early skyscraper) is faintly visible.
While this film ultimately isn't as good as Brooklyn: Fulton Street or New York: Broadway at Union Square, it remains one of the better street scenes. It has a remarkable clarity and depth of focus. It could almost pass for a brief establishing shot from a feature length film made later in the silent era. Like Promio's other NYC street scenes, it is an important historical document of the era. While hardly an essential, Whitehall Street is worth a look.
Monkeyshines, No. 1 (1890)
The Birthpangs of Film
Monkeyshines No. 1 may not be the first film ever made (just as its financier, Thomas Edison, didn't really invent the movies). It is, however, one of the oldest surviving films and is believed to be the earliest film made in the United States. Indeed, Edison deserves tremendous amount of acclaim for his contributions to the art of film. Although Eadweard Muybridge and others may have pioneered what eventually became the motion picture camera, it was Edison's visionary desire to develop a device that could "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear," and put it to commercial use, that led to the birth of films as we know them today. The Gay Nineties saw the emergence of this new art form and started to grasp at its limitless possibilities. Many of these early films are essentially short subject documentary films, dubbed "Actualities," that show snapshots of life during the final decade of the 19th century.
In 1890, film was going through its birth pangs. Edison and his team struggled to perfect a device that would create the illusion of life and movement from a series of still images. At this phase, the motion picture camera had not been invented yet. Edison's idea for projecting these images was to have a photographic filmstrip spiraling around a cylinder device (not unlike a phonograph), and the viewer would watch through a peephole kinetoscope. Monkeyshines No. 1 and No. 2 are early examples of films made using this process. At the time they were made, they were never intended for public exhibition; they were merely an internal test run of the system. Filmmakers William K.L. Dickson and William Heise shot these tests using lab worker G. Sacco Albanese as their subject. They were filmed outside Building 4 of the Edison Laboratory facility, which was used for performing iron-ore milling experiments.
These two films are impossible to review from a critical standpoint. They are not meant to be entertainment or art. They are, essentially, experiments in a new technological process. Both consist of Mr. Albanese doing little more than flail his arms, stretch, and move around for the benefit of the camera. The rudimentary technology that captured these images has not weathered the ravages of time very well, and Monkeyshines No. 1, in particular, has a very phantasmagorical effect as Albanese appears almost ghostly. Perhaps that is fitting, as these film remnants have allowed a ghostly image of him to live on over a century after the man himself passed away. Monkeyshines No. 2 is a little clearer in its presentation, but essentially more of the same. A casual viewer looking for even the tiniest shred of entertainment will walk away disappointed. However, the more intrepid film buff will likely find some interest, even if only academic, as part of a broader examination of both the origins of film and the Edison Company in particular. Either way, the story behind this early film is more interesting than the product itself, and one should approach it solely as a historical artifact.
Ghoulies II (1987)
Good old fashioned cheesy 80's Fun
This is by no means a good film. It will never be mistaken for the modern age Citizen Kane. What you will get watching this film, however, is some good old fashioned cheesy 80's fun. If you love the 80's... if you find yourself watching I Love the 80's on VH1, if you listen to music like Ratt and Dokken, if your idea of a good time is watching movies like Open House and Zombie Nightmare, you will love Ghoulies II!!! It has it all: little monsters going on a killing spree at a carnival, hot girls, 80's heavy metal music, and little kids with throwing stars! The acting is horrible, but if you like these kinds of movies, you won't be complaining. There is a midget named Sir Nigel that works for the funhouse where the Ghoulies have taken up residence. He gives a hilarious performance as a pint-sized Shakespearean actor who has had to resort to dressing up as a gorilla for cash. Royal Dano plays Uncle Ned, the owner of the funhouse who has a serious drinking problem. It's absolutely a gas when the Ghoulies bust loose and start killing people with assorted carnival gear (props to the bumper car scene). Definitely worth a look if you are into the obscure 80's horror films.