The Attempt against the Life of Maitre Labori

director: Georges Méliès

original title: Affaire Dreyfus, attentat contre maître Labori

country: France

year: 1899

running time: 1 min.

synopsis

From today's perspective, we would call this installment an “action episode”, as a murder takes place here. Given the year it was made, however, an even more interesting element is found in the masterful direction, which provides hints of depth of space. Multiple characters in the frame carry out different activities, and the killer's actual escape is handled in such a way that Méliès, perhaps unwittingly, for the first time breaks with the two-dimensional nature of his mise-en-scene and to some extent breaks with the theatrical tradition of filmmaking.

biography

Georges Méliès (1861-1938) is one of the first independent film directors whose work crystalised the early film genres. He worked on fantasy scenes, adaptations of literary works, fairy tales, as well as socio-critical and political films. His documentary filmmaking is less well known, as a lot of it has not been preserved.

more about film

director:

Georges Méliès

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