Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908)

Redundant and unnecessary.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Excellent adaptation.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Melies is poking fun at the madness of science. In the process, his scientist has invented a type off camera that can send images through the air. An older couple show up to have their pictures taken. At first they get a demonstration of the new technology. Everything goes quite well. But when their turn comes, the pictures that arrive are venomous, showing the worst qualities of the people. This has a bit of a "Twilight Zone" sense to it. It is a bit boring but holds its own for quite a while. The machine is quite amazing.

Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908)*** (out of 4) aka Photographie électrique à distance Nice film from Georges Melies has a man creating a machine that can show people for how they really are. Various people sit down (or stand) by a machine and then their real image is projected on the screen. At just under 6-minutes this here is a pretty good short from the French filmmaker as he manages to get a couple nice laughs from the "real" sides that get shown on the screen. My personal favorite happened towards the end with the monkey looking creature. The film does start off a tad bit slow because Melies takes his time leading up to the machine in motion but once this happens it really picks up and delivers. I think some of the magic that the director is best known for is missing here but it's still worth watching.

This short silent film is part of the DVD collection entitled "The Magic of Méliès" and is the fourth volume of THE MOVIES BEGIN series from Kino Video. Unlike copies of Méliès' films that are posted on the internet, the prints for these short films are exceptionally crisp and clean and feature wonderful musical scores. Oddly, though, is that aside from a few films such as THE BLACK IMP and THE IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE, most of the shorts chosen for this DVD are actually not among the best of Méliès' films--having a strong tendency to show is "stagy" material as opposed to the films that have elaborate sets and plots. In particular, my favorites such as BARBE-BLEUE and LE VOYAGE DANS LE LUNE (his most famous film) are not on this DVD.When the movie begins, the film seems a tad ordinary. However, as it progresses, the camera tricks become more and more impressive. And, to top off an already good film, the ending is very funny slapstick--with electrocutions and pratfalls galore. While not the director's best, this is a very good and about average film for Méliès.

While it's a little less efficient than the best Méliès features, "Long Distance Wireless Photography" does have a couple of good moments in it. The fanciful story starts with a special camera that produces images which bring out hidden aspects or characteristics of its subjects. It takes a little while to set everything up before it really gets going, but along the way there are the trademark Méliès visual details and special effects. Except for a couple of high points, it's only mildly interesting by his standards, but of course that's not too bad by most other standards of the era.