This 1898 short film by the early grand seigneur of cinema takes place exclusively underwater and reconstructs one of the most historically significant events of the day, the Spanish American War, namely the battleship whose sinking triggered the start of said war.
Now the Maine has sunken and it's all about giving these poor souls who died during the explosion their final rest. Therefore a bunch of frogmen in costumes that do the name justice make their way to the wrecked ship, get out the corpses and put it under further scrutiny. We see algae flowing and fish swimming while the retrieval progresses.
It's a daring project and Méliès made it probably look as good as it gets for 1898, but this one is mostly one to watch for those either interested a lot in early cinema history or American history of course.
Now the Maine has sunken and it's all about giving these poor souls who died during the explosion their final rest. Therefore a bunch of frogmen in costumes that do the name justice make their way to the wrecked ship, get out the corpses and put it under further scrutiny. We see algae flowing and fish swimming while the retrieval progresses.
It's a daring project and Méliès made it probably look as good as it gets for 1898, but this one is mostly one to watch for those either interested a lot in early cinema history or American history of course.