La Marseillaise (1907)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
This French film from director Georges Mendel starts off with a brief introduction talking about how Mendel was trying to sync sound with the moving images but the process was still just so young that it really didn't work when originally released. Today this short comes off as a minor miracle as M. Note of the Paris opera sings the title tune. This film runs just under three-minutes and I must say that it put a smile on my face from the word go and kept it there until Note walked out of frame and then back on for a final bow. I found the performance of Note to be quite good as I thought the song was fun and extremely well performed. The sound technique is obviously a bit off in regards to what you're hearing and the lip movement but it would be rather silly for anyone to be too critical. Again, for 1907 the technique is still pretty darn impressive. I also really enjoyed the backdrop. When viewing the film, there's a small cabin to the left, a cannon in the center and then some trees to the right. There's nothing overly special about this but I thought it made for an interesting visual while you listen to the song.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
This French film from director Georges Mendel starts off with a brief introduction talking about how Mendel was trying to sync sound with the moving images but the process was still just so young that it really didn't work when originally released. Today this short comes off as a minor miracle as M. Note of the Paris opera sings the title tune. This film runs just under three-minutes and I must say that it put a smile on my face from the word go and kept it there until Note walked out of frame and then back on for a final bow. I found the performance of Note to be quite good as I thought the song was fun and extremely well performed. The sound technique is obviously a bit off in regards to what you're hearing and the lip movement but it would be rather silly for anyone to be too critical. Again, for 1907 the technique is still pretty darn impressive. I also really enjoyed the backdrop. When viewing the film, there's a small cabin to the left, a cannon in the center and then some trees to the right. There's nothing overly special about this but I thought it made for an interesting visual while you listen to the song.