Between Calais and Dover

director: Georges Méliès

original title: Entre Calais et Douvres

country: France

year: 1897

running time: 1 min.

synopsis

This film is number 112 in the Star Film catalogue, making it one of the first films and one of the first so-called “newsreels”, as the director called them. Although shot entirely in the studio, it attempts to convey to the viewer the feelings that were probably experienced by a passenger on a boat between Calais and Dover. The chaos on board is likely to remind us of early French slapstick.

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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