Spooktober 24: Little Red Riding Hood (1901)

 

 

 I felt it was time to feature some more Méliès, and it is also a good idea to occasionally take the time to turn a little attention to some of his films that are, at present, lost to us. Many only have titles, and are known only by catalog entries; but some, like this one have extant materials.  In this case, all that remains of Méliès Le petit chaperon rouge [Little Red Riding Hood] is one of his drawings. What currently survives of this 1901 short, which was probably released in the spring of 1901 in France, is the color illustration made by Georges Méliès himself of his intents for the final scene of the film. We do know that the film was quite popular as it was released in both the U.K. and the U.S.; though only in the U.K. was it properly promoted. We also know that the film had hand tinting, due to the distribution in England by the Warwick Trading Company, as they had the choice to distribute the film in either color or in black and white. One small hope that we have that a copy may be found, say perhaps in the Library of Congress, in a mislabeled storing is that Edison's company, in all definitions of the word "stole" the film from Star Pictures and promoted it in the United States as an Edison production. Shockingly, laws in the U.S. at the time (written largely due to lobbying by Edison and like companies) permitted this. For this reason, it, ironically, gives film historians and film lovers some hope that copy may turn up under this bogus title.