King Edward VII of Great Britain and President Fallières of France (or reasonable facsimiles), over wine and cigars, agree that a tunnel need be dug under the channel to connect the two countries. In a surreal symbolic moment two men lengthen their arms extravagantly to shake hands over a miniature channel, dotted with ships and populated with fish. The film then cuts to the tunneling from both sides (supervised by the well-lubricated leaders), with dynamite finishing the job. As in the modern Chunnel, the submarine crossing is made by train until, catastrophically, two trains meet in the middle and the resulting explosion collapses the roof and floods the tunnel. As in other Méliès' films, the fantastic events turn out to be dreams. The whimsical sets are great, especially the French drilling machine, and the special effects include explosions, substitution splices, superimpositions and dissolves. There are lots of amusing touches (note the patriotically coloured fish swimming above the tunnel completion party). There are no intertitles and at the time of release, a 'boniment' describing the event would be read during the film. One of Méliès' more amusing works of cinéma fantastique.
Review of Tunneling the English Channel
