User Reviews

Segundo de Chomón Georges Méliès

"A Dreadful Night" is one of many films directed by Segundo de Chomón where he essentially steals the ideas of French director Georges Méliès. Hack in the day, stealing another filmmaker's work was common...so much so that on rare occasions, Méliès himself even dabbled in a bit of thievery!

When you watch this movie, you'd swear it was one of Méliès, as he made several nearly identical films involving someone trying, in vain, to get some sleep. In this case, a man in 17th century attire stops at an inn and gets a room. However, once he is in bed, the bed starts moving all over the room...leaving him unable to sleep.

Like the Georges Méliès films, this film required the cameraman to stop the film, they made adjustments (such as flipping the bed on its side) and then restarting the camera to make it appear as if things have changed. It's a simple trick by today's standards but folks back in the day loved it...and this is why it was copied. Not a must-see in any way...but mildly interesting.

On the face of it, there is no good reason for believing this film has anything to do with Segundo de Chomón. He was extremely busy making his first Spanish films in 1904-1905 in Barcelona and did not come to Paris until summoned by Charles Pathé in the Spring of 1906, following the defection of Gaston Velle to Cines in Italy which is when. his career with Pathé would really begin. Chomón had worked as a colourist for Pathé since about 1901 but this film is simply tinted and is not known to have been colourised., and from around 1904 the firm of Macaya y Marro, one of those for which he worked in Spain, became accredited Pathé representatives in Barcelona and Chomón began to make topicalities (actualités) in the city for Pathé. He also seems to have had some input into two Pathé films in 1905, Le Roi des dollars and Velle's Poule aux oeufs d'or which were in both cases based on films made earlier by Chomón in Spain for the Sala Mercé. These films by Chomón and Adrià Gual, seem in some cases to have been adapted from existing Pathé films, occasionally included actualités filmed by Chomón for Pathé and, as in the two cases mentioned, might themselves have been the basis for films re-edited for Pathé. There is one title amongst them - Una soirée agitada which appeared in Barcelona in December 1904 - that may have been the basis for this film, possibly like the others, re-edited by Gaston Velle. But the title is a common one for trick films, from the time of the earliest Méliès films, and the similarity could be purely coincidence.

During the earliest days of cinema, there was a considerable amount of movie themes which were not only popular with audiences but became so well-received they were copied by practically every filmmaker in the day. The earliest of these movie themes included the 'serpentine dance' fad, remade because of the mesmerizing level of movement within the frame and the lovely hand-coloring applied to each frame; the 'arrival of a train' fad, copied no doubt because the realistic impact they had on the masses; and the theme of 'l'arroseur arrose' (the waterer watered), remade because of how the gag itself caused quite a chuckle during the period.

Of course, these fads were old by the time this film came along, so this film belongs to a different category in the many various genres during the period. It had originally started with the renowned director Georges Méliès's 'haunted inn' movies (the first of which was "The Bewitched Inn" of 1897) where every film would have the plot of a traveler entering a room at an inn and becoming haunted by the spirits who own the place. Méliès remade this theme many, many times throughout his career, in quite a few variations spanning from 1897-1905, and all were well received and considered among the best films of the period.

Since Méliès was terrible at copyrighting his films, other film companies who liked the originals could, quite easily, remake them in order to cash in on the popularity. (What's sadder is that some companies, Edison in particular, actually stole direct copies of the movies and called them their own). The Edison Manufacturing Company made a variation on the theme in 1901, called "Another Job for the Undertaker", which led to different versions by various other companies.

Segundo de Chomòn worked for the Pathé Company and this is one of his earliest variations on the 'haunted inn' theme. Chomòn was probably the main competitor against Méliès throughout the majority of his career; he began working for Pathé in 1902 as a cinematographer and colorist for the company, and started to make his first trick films by 1905. "A Dreadful Night" was not only made in 1905, it also shows how Chomòn was already becoming a major threat to Méliès's original popularity. Albeit simplistic, the film uses humorous acting (Méliès's trademark) and seamless effects (as well-executed as Méliès's) to create a pretty interesting work. The clothes coming back on the soldier (who even looks a little and acts a little like Méliès) is borrowed from "Going to Bed Under Difficulties" of 1901; the appearance of the ghost comes from "The Apparition" of 1903. To top that, Chomòn also includes a different, innovative ending which adds a level of originality.

Style-wise, however, there is not much difference. As evidenced by this feature, the director was merely copying the style of his rival without bothering to add a lot of his own ideas. As time progressed, Chomòn's filmmaking style would, however, change to become more sophisticated and groundbreaking. He would begin to incorporate medium closeups, stop-motion and shadow animation, and claymation which went beyond the simple appearances, disappearances dissolves and superimpositions of Méliès's work. This would later result in another variation on the 'haunted inn' theme in "L'Hotel Hante" of 1909, which uses the techniques listed above to make a much more original film. "A Dreadful Night", as said before, is not original at all in style and includes no medium closeups or other effects. Yet, it is not a direct rip-off of any sort, and does have enough original humor and good enough effects to make it worth viewing for fans of Méliès's original films.