Eruption of Mount Pele

director: Georges Méliès

original title: Eruption volcanique à la Martinique

country: France

year: 1902

running time: 1 min.

synopsis

The most popular narrated or reconstructed news stories tended to be tragedy-related news, such as traffic accidents, shipwrecks, plane crashes or volcanic eruptions. This particular film is one of the most frequently-cited in film literature and was considered lost for almost a century. However, it is only a static shot of a mock-volcano and the city below it. We see rising smoke and eventually volcanic ash falling. This film is an example of period mass entertainment that, in hindsight, seems rather trivial.

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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