Born Today June 12: Georges Demenÿ

1850-1917

French inventor,  pioneering photographer and filmmaker/inventor Georges Demenÿ was born on this day in Douai in the north of France. Demenÿ's main claim to fame was his contribution to Chronophotography, which--to be clear--he did not invent; far from it actually. He did, however, make significant advances in the technique, which is considered the direct predessor to actual moving pictures. Demenÿ was a student of the brillant French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey; and Demenÿ's main contribution lie in his personal invention of a superior projector that he dubbed the Stroboscope; it is where we get the term "strobe light"--so beloved in live musical performances...and discos of the 1970's. Again, Demenÿ didn't event the mechicnism on which his design was based (that is generally attributed to Belgian inventor Joseph Plateau which actually included what is probably the earliest animations), but rather utililzed the technology to fashion of projector of series photographs that projected onto surfaces that appeared to show normal motions (ie: "moving pictures"). Demenÿ worked with German inventor/photographer Ottomar Anschütz on this invention to use in scientific study--it was Anschütz who would take parts of the mechinism further and attempt to use them for entertainment purposes. For his part, Demenÿ is widly over-looked as a significant contributor to the invention of motion pictures due, in no small part, to his lack of interest or belief in the technology's use in such a capacity early on (he would come to regret this). There are a remarkable number of his experiments (some with Marey) that have survived--though only two seem to be regarded as "films" (a subject to address for sure!).  The first of these is Je vous aime, a film experiment of himself dating from 1891. The second, which dates from 1897, was actually a popular subject of the time..namely dance in film...and serpentine dances in particular. That film, Serpentine Dance: Loïe Fuller, featured American born dancer Fuller who had moved to France and made a second "career" out this particular dance (note: this dance was a big subject of film at Edison's studio as well!). Both of these films run under a minute in time (and both are embedded below, along with a couple of other experiments of his with Marey).  Demenÿ was what can only be called a "fitness nut"--which accounts for the physical nature of most of the film experiements that he worked on. His film Je vous aime was made at the request for a work for projection by a school of the deaf in Paris teaching lip-reading, which accounts for it's rather odd look and lack of any sort of exercise or sport; and the Serpentine Dance and an exemplary example of early hand coloring! Demenÿ lived until 1917, long enough to see a whole host of innovation in film and the birth of a brand new industry and art. He died in Paris on the 26th of October at that age of 67 and is buried at Montmartre. 

[source: Find A Grave]

[source: Find A Grave]

List of Publications--Wikipedia 

Find A Grave

The Silent Image In Modern Medium: "Uncle Grandpa" and The Funny Face Party

I just happened to be watching a streaming episode of the very quirky and strangely entertaining cartoon Uncle Grandpa yesterday, which features the funny face party of season one.  I immediately thought of  a Georges Melies film of 1901 that goes by several names, the two most famous being The Man With A Rubber Head or The India Rubber Head (L'homme á la téte de caoutchouc) , which had to be both the inspiration for the episode and an out and out homage to the Melies.  Both are hilarious and speak for themselves as imagery.  

A Trip To The Moon (1902)

This is the original Le voyage dans la lune or The Trip to the Moon fro 1902 by cinematic pioneer of the "trick film" Georges Melies.  Happy Halloween!

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 10

Finally episode 10 of the ground breaking French serial Les Vampires.  My edition is the two disc edition put out in 2005 (which sadly is out of print and expensive).  This edition contains a lengthy liner notes essay by Fabrice Zagury.  It is a lengthy read, but worth the time, starting with Louis Feuillade's beginnings through to the film's posterity.  I think he stresses some key points as the the film making of Feuillade's place as a true pioneer in early cinema over all, and I believe, in early horror films in particular.  

He says of Fueillede in the important year of 1913, when Gaumont started producing true feature length films; "In the  eyes of posterity and from this moment on he would remain the glorious pioneer of the serial film.  Les Vampires, which describes the achievements of a secret society of criminals and their muse, is regarded as Feuillade's masterpiece in this genre.  It was shot during the war in the empty and grey streets of Paris."

Passerby inspecting a Vampires poster

He later concluded:  "Feuillade, the father of the Vampire, enriched the collective imaginary of the French by exploiting the latent fascination and magical powers coming from the serial film."  Here is the final installment of his ground breaking Vampires.

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 9

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 8

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 7

This is Part Seven of Les Vampires--entitled Satanas.  For the Wikipedia entry on the series, click here

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 6

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 5

Here is part 5 of the 10 episodes of Les Vampires:

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 4

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 3

Just a bit about director Louis Feuillade

Born in 1873, during his lifetime, Feuillade would go on to direct a whopping 700 films!  He actually wrote 800 screenplays in his lifetime as well.  His film career started Le Maison Gaumont in 1905.  He starting directing films for them in 1906, starting with Un coup de vent under artistic production director Alice Guy (who was the first woman in world ever to direct a film).  He directed or produced 9 short films that year. In 1907, after Mll. Guy left the company,  he was promoted to artistic director in charge of production, her old job.  It was from this position that he film making career really took off.

Though all early filmmakers started out making shorts, even long after solid narrative scripts of stories entered the picture, there are a few that quickly progressed on to something more.  In the United States, D. W. Griffith was constantly trying to find was to lengthen his films in one sitting.  He had experimented with movies in parts, but it was a format that didn't suit him.  So his work pioneering lenght of film is well documented and well regarded, he is the the father of the feature.  Louis Feuillade also deserves credit for the advancement of the length of a filmed story; but his approach was in pioneering and promoting serials.  By 1910 his serials were well established, by 1913 Gaumont began to produce feature length films and along came his Fantomas series.  It remains his most successful series after Les Vampires to this day.  

Still from Fantomas

Fueillade was above all a director who loved to tell a story, and resisted later efforts, especially in France, and especially after World War I, in intellectualized film to a point that most of the narrative was pushed back out.  Famed director in his own right, René Clair, who started out as Fueillade's assistant said of his days working on serials with him "very often we started a film in 12 episodes without knowing how we would finish it."  Feuillade himself later commented 1920, "A film is not a sermon or a conference, even less a rebus, but a means to entertain the eyes and spirit."  He was known to be quite a humble man, the son of wine makers, he appreciate the wider audience, and didn't at all cotton to the new notions that intellectualizing cinema to draw a more cultivated audience was anything laudable.  He continued his statement, "The quality of the entertainment is measured by the interest of the crowd form whom it was created."  Well merely 5 years before his Les Vampires did just that.  Here's part 3.

Note:  quotes taken from liner notes,  in essay written by Fabrice Zagury.

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 2

Les Vampires (1915-1916) Part 1

Dating from 1915 this actually a serial that ran into 1916.  It's what people used to do LONG  before there was television.  By the mid 1910's these really were a dime a dozen; so much so that many were simply discarded.  This French production was actually rescued from complete destruction from a trash heap by the side of the road.  

The most famous still from the film:  The Vamp Irma  Vep

It was original broken into 10 films and now the restored to disc addition by Image Entertainment runs a w'/hopping 7 hours!  I've only ever screened it through all the way once--in fact, it was a couple of Halloween seasons ago, during a crime theme as part the countdown to Halloween.  It was one epic viewing!!  

It was part of a day of crime, and not vampires, because it is a crime serial.  Yes it is laced with supernatural elements in some places, but they are subtle.  It is also a kind of vaguely super-human sort of vision of occulted crime syndicates--organized crime.  For the longest time, secret crime organizations were denied not just in Italy and the US, but in other countries as well, and France was no exception.  And this was no ordinary crime syndicate--as it is run by a woman who is called Irma Vep, whose very name is a reworking of the word "vampire."  When the serial first debuted, it was, in fact banned by the Paris police.  But the "damage" had been done.  The serial had created the character of "The Vamp"--evil women with dark hair that were always out for something that was most definitely not theirs!

Here is a Halloween special, part 1 of Les Vampires, entitled "The Severed Head."

Today's Film: An Excursion To The Moon (1908)

While I am still having Internet troubles here, with serious run around's with the cable company over services call, it has at least stabilized enough to get some extra stuff finished.  And I found my source material on the restoration of this little film.

This is a famous early remake, in fact, it is almost a frame for from remake of the famous Meliese "trick" film of 1902 (in English) A Trip To The Moon.  Though this was produced by the famous French film company Pathe Freres, it was actually directed by one of Spain's earliest film directors, Segundo de Chomon.  Though the remake is almost frame for frame, this version is richly hand stenciled--the stencil in the preserved copy of the film is the original stencilling done by Pathe.

This film is part of the Lobster Film  collection.  And is part of a collection of important early films put out on DVD by Flicker Alley LLC entitled Saved from the Flames:  54 Rare and Restored Films 1896-1944.  Music by Frederick Hodges.

Early French Cinema

I was looking for this film from 1895 on DVD.  It was supposed to be on Volume 2 of The Movies Begin Set from Kino, but I've owned that set for years, and have found no evidence of it ever being a part of that set, ever.  I thought it might be on one of the other sets, like Landmarks of Early Film, but alas no.  So I looked up on Wikipedia, and found the following:  the movie over at the DailyMotion.  Here 's the embed:



Lumiere - Barque sortant du port by kinetoscope