Segundo de Chomón & Ferdinand Zecca - Le spectre rouge [The Red Spectre] (1907)

Le spectre rouge (1907)
English title: The Red Spectre

France/Silent/Colour (hand-tinted)/Black & White
Production Co: Pathé Frères
Directors: Segundo de Chomón, Ferdinand Zecca
Writer: Segundo de Chomón

A demonic magician attempts to perform his act in a strange grotto, but is confronted by a Good Spirit who opposes him.

The first decade of the 20th century saw the production of dozens of brief "trick films" which pushed the boundaries of the new medium, and France was the capital of this activity. Georges Méliès is the best known creator of these films, but The Red Spectre, which was produced at the Pathé Studio as a collaboration between Méliès' fellow pioneers Ferdinand Zecca and Segundo de Chomón, is perhaps the most bizarre and fascinating of them all. Or at least, allowing for the fact that so many of these films are lost, it certainly ranks with the best of the survivors. It is better seen than described, genuinely dreamlike in its images and transitions, and quite strange, but quite satisfying as well. The action lasts only about 9 minutes, but when it's over you feel as if you've been permitted to visit another world. When The Red Spectre was first exhibited the black & white footage had colour later applied using stencils, a mechanical process that replaced the more labor intensive hand-tinting, to produce a dazzling effect. Happily, this material survived, as a colour print was discovered in a junk-yard in Mexico, and purchased for a mere $25.00.

Our setting is a mysterious underground grotto, and our "host" is a demonic magician who seems to be toying with the souls or spirits of several captive women. He causes them to levitate, then burst into flames; he captures their ashes in bottles, brings them back to life in miniaturised form, etc. The magician is opposed throughout by a Good Fairy who resembles Peter Pan (portrayed by a woman, as Peter traditionally is on stage). The precise meaning of the action is difficult to determine at times, but the central conflict amounts to a struggle between the forces of Good and Evil.

One effect is especially notable: when the wicked magician produces three glass bottles, each holding a tiny woman prisoner, and brings them downstage to allow for a close-up, the scene instantly reminds latter day viewers of a similar sequence in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Did James Whale see this film, or is the similarity a coincidence? Notable, too, is the depiction of a device very much like television-- strongly suggested by the evil conjurer's magic screens, each of which depicts a series of moving images. Here's a real cinematic milestone: a film that predicts the coming of T.V., and, on top of that, attributes its invention to a demon.

The Red Spectre (1907) - Music by the Ubangis