MELIES GEORGES. LA PRISE DE TOURNAVOS (1897)

RECONSTRUCTION. A scene from the Greco-Turkish War. A reconstructed courtyard. Greek Soldiers stand on barrels and fire over the wall. Turkish soliders kick the door down and climb over the wall, while the other soldiers flee through a door on the right of the frame, locking it behind them. The Turkish soldiers plant dynamite, blow open the door and give chase.


"Thus far, all but the first of Méliès' surviving films have been special-effects exercises involving mechanical props or jump-cuts, but this is the earliest example of one of his historical re-enactments -- or so it seems to us today. Actually, this particular re-enactment was torn straight from the headlines of 1897: April 12, to be precise, as that's when the Greek town of Tyrnavos was overrun by Turks.

Here, the special effects are limited to an explosion, but Méliès compensates by significantly increasing the amount of on-screen action: if he doesn't quite stretch to the proverbial cast of thousands (or even tens, if we're honest), there's certainly plenty going on as a group of Greek soldiers try in vain to prevent first the breaching of the castle walls and then a full-scale Turkish invasion of the building.

Although the camera's viewpoint is still as fixed as ever, the film also marks an advance on previous films (and not just by Méliès) in that the action is staged in three distinct planes: the foreground, relative to the castle entrance, the middle ground, relative to the wall, and the background, mostly obscured by the wall, but a few details (not least the smoke of distant explosions) can be seen. Although clearly a painted stage set, the backdrop gives an effective impression of towers receding into infinity, and at one point Méliès has a Greek soldier run past the camera in close-up, adding to the sense of depth". —Filmjournal.net

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Melies
• Georges
• Cinema
• 1897
• Special
• Effects
• Silent
• Movie
• Greece
• Turkey
• Tournavos
• film