Dranem Performs The True Jiu-Jitsu (1905)
Armand Dranem performs The True Jiu-Jitsu ("Le Vrai Jiu-Jitsu", by P. Briollet & G. Fabri / C. D'Orviet) in this phonoscene by Alice Guy. This early form of music video was created using a chronophone recording of Dranem, who was then filmed "lip singing". Guy would film phonoscenes of all three major Belle Époque celebrities in France: Polin, Félix Mayol, and Dranem.
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To me, this movie is perfection.
A Disappointing Continuation
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
This one of two amazing shorts that I stumbled upon and they absolutely blew me away, as I didn't know any such films existed. In 1905, long before the first talking full-length film, THE JAZZ SINGER, was released, Alice Guy experimented with talking (yes, I said talking) films! I had thought the earliest talking films were experimental ones with Eddie Cantor done in 1922--but this was 17 years earlier! What makes these films even more enjoyable is that the folks who put this on DVD made sure the film and accompanying record were in sync--something that wasn't always the case when the earliest sound films were shown.The film consists of a French cabaret singer, Dranem, singing a little song as a motionless camera recorded him. This short and "Five O'Clock Tea" were both made with Dranem and feature the same set, so it's easy to mix them up with the other. The only major difference, other than the actual song, as that at the beginning of "Five O'Clock" Dranem's voice breaks badly--as well as later in the film.