Serpentine dances were a popular subject during the very early times of cinema and you could see why. There's just some magic to these women dancing so elegantly and their dresses looking so mesmerizing during their movements. And if they're hand-colored like this one, it's even better. What I liked most about it is that the colors move slowly from one into the next and there's no crass effects from red turning into blue from one frame into the other. It's all very soft and soothing and relaxing to watch, but at the same time I wanted to join in and dance with Miss Fuller. This is one of my favorite Lumière short films and I recommend it. It's quite a feast for the eye.
2 Reviews
Stunning Colorized Dance Film
Cineanalyst14 January 2009
This is a beautiful early film. It's a Lumière film of the serpentine dance, and the print we've inherited is the most stunning hand-colored film from the early days of motion pictures. Loïe Fuller invented the serpentine dance for the stage, and she was an especially big hit in France and an inspiration to the Art Nouveau movement. It had previously been imitated at least five times in the movies by Annabelle Moore for the Edison Company and once more for the American Mutoscope Company, between 1894 and 1896. Yet, Annabelle was a comparable amateur; the unknown performer of this film seems to have achieved a closer resemblance to Fuller's dance. Some sources have even confused Fuller to be the dancer in this film, although Fuller and Lumière historians assure that she is not.
The cinematographer for this film is unknown, too. The framing of the shot for this film deserves some mention, though. Besides allowing the performance to remain within frame, the angle alerts us that the dance is performed on stage. Compared to the dark, cramped and overused Black Maria setting of most of the Annabelle films, the setting here is a welcome addition.
On the stage, Fuller's twirling swaths of silk would achieve color transformations via lighting effects reflecting upon the fabric. For this film, the Lumière Company adopted the approach of the Annabelle films by hand coloring the film for a similar effect on the black and white celluloid. Nearly every major early film studio hand colored certain films at an additional price. Of the Lumière films, hand-colored prints of "Les Forgerons" (1895), "Partie de cartes' (1895), "Mort de Marat" (1897) and "Exécution de Jeanne d'Arc" (1898) are still available. None are quite this stunning, however. Today, this and the Annabelle films offer us a glimpse of why Fuller and her many imitators were so popular.
The cinematographer for this film is unknown, too. The framing of the shot for this film deserves some mention, though. Besides allowing the performance to remain within frame, the angle alerts us that the dance is performed on stage. Compared to the dark, cramped and overused Black Maria setting of most of the Annabelle films, the setting here is a welcome addition.
On the stage, Fuller's twirling swaths of silk would achieve color transformations via lighting effects reflecting upon the fabric. For this film, the Lumière Company adopted the approach of the Annabelle films by hand coloring the film for a similar effect on the black and white celluloid. Nearly every major early film studio hand colored certain films at an additional price. Of the Lumière films, hand-colored prints of "Les Forgerons" (1895), "Partie de cartes' (1895), "Mort de Marat" (1897) and "Exécution de Jeanne d'Arc" (1898) are still available. None are quite this stunning, however. Today, this and the Annabelle films offer us a glimpse of why Fuller and her many imitators were so popular.
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