Segundo de Chomón — Director (73)

Movie

Music, Forward! (1907)
En avant la musique WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 音乐之前 / En avant la musique …
“Music Forward!” is the order given by a lady in Colonial costume, and in march a group of five musicians, working industriously at their instruments. The directress stands them in a row, and taking the head off each, throws it onto a huge music staff and each becomes a note of the scale. The whole bodies appear again, after which the manipulator seems to wrap them up in a large sheet of music, which is then shown to contain nothing. The paper is rolled up again, and a cane is held, perpendicularly, in a horizontal position to the sheet.

Movie

Legend of a Ghost (1908)
La légende du fantôme WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 鬼魂传奇 / La légende du fantôme …
A young woman passing through a cemetery at night is suddenly startled by a voice coming from one of the graves. She wishes to rush away, but the ghost appearing compels her to remain. He explains to the terrified girl that she must go to the kingdom of Satan and get a bottle of the Water of Life, which she must bring back to him. The girl consents to do as he desires and starts forth on her expedition after the precious fluid. She summons a lot of soldiers and friends to her aid, and we follow the whole army down into the bowels of the earth. Arriving at the gate of Satan's kingdom, they mount a chariot of fire and, arriving at the devil's palace, give fight to the demons mounting guard over their king, and after having defeated them rush into the palace. Now Satan, seeing his life in peril, disappears in a cloud of smoke, and thunder, and is seen again as he dashes through his vast domains gathering together his people, and while they await the conquering chariot another fight ensues. The devil is beaten again and the bottle of life is stolen by the leader of the victorious army, and they are all about to depart when a terrible explosion takes place and the chariot and its occupants are dashed to the ground. All are killed: but the brave woman who undertook the expedition, and she goes forth alone, meeting on her way dragons and vampires, who try to stop her progress towards earth. She defeats them all, however, and arriving at the ghost's grave raps on the marble slab, the ghost appears, drinks the water and is immediately transformed into a beautiful prince. The last scene of this interesting film shows the happy marriage of the once-deceased man and the beautiful and courageous bride.

Movie

Modern Sculptors (1908)
Sculpture Moderne WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
塞冈多·德·乔蒙 actor: Julienne Mathieu / 安德烈·迪德
other title: 现代雕塑 / Sculpture Moderne …
The first scene presents before the astonished eyes of the spectators a solid piece of marble, which the minute it is placed on a table seems to take life, and one can follow a snake-like line branding on the polished face of the stone the name of the house of Pathé Frères. As soon as this stone has been engraved, as by magic, a handsome young lady appears with a huge lump of clay covered with a cloth. As soon as the cloth is removed from the soft mass it starts whirling and turning as if stricken mad, and one is asking one's self what all the contentions are going to lead to, when the vague shape of an animal not yet discernible seems to appear, and before one has time to make one's mind as to the category of brutes to which it belongs one sees the form of a remarkably well made orang-utan modelled out of the clay, who calmly smokes his pipe. Then the statue is removed by the same winning young lady and another covered block of the same substance is carried forward.

Movie

Metempsychosis (1907)
Métempsycose Douban
other title: 转生 / Métempsycose …
The special effects pioneer Segundo de Chomón reinterprets for the camera a famous stage illusion that featured a metamorphosis from one object (or person) into another. Here a statue turns into a butterfly fairy who performs a number of dazzling costume transformations that are a feast for the eyes.

Movie

The Music Lesson (1909)
La leçon de musique IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 音乐课 / La leçon de musique …
In front of a portico, a music teacher teaches music theory to a group of young women, including Julienne Mathieu. A piano stands on the right side. A staff is drawn at the top of the portico. The four singers have extendable necks, and their heads, as they elongate, form notes. Beneath the heads, thus detached from their bodies, and against a black background, white cut-out paper figures come to life. Then the heads return to the women's shoulders. From a white ball placed in the middle of the painting, eggs emerge and are placed on the staff. Then stick figures also emerge, forming the stems of the notes. Finally, stick figures come to life. This scene is repeated three times with different animations.

Movie

Whimsical People (1908)
Les lunatiques WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 异想天开 / Les lunatiques …
A moon-woman shakes a Pierot costume and manifests a Pierot clown. She does this four more until there are five Pierots crowded on the ledge of the moon. They fall to the earth and dance like tops turning one by one into Columbine maidens.

Movie

Barcelona Park at Twilight (1904)
Barcelone - Parc au crépuscule WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 巴塞罗那-公园黄昏 / Barcelone - Parc au crépuscule …
Segundo de Chomon documents a park in Barcelona, filming its extensive area, filled with trees and some constructions around. The innovation here is that instead of obtaining immobile images as usual in many films of the period, the director makes the camera move through the location, apparently shot while he was on a boat. Written by Rodrigo Amaro

Movie

Old Toledo (1912)
La Histórica Toledo IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: L'antique Tolède / La Histórica Toledo
Fascinating views of Toledo: Bridges, elaborately decorated halls and other architectural highlights that appear to date from as early as the 8th century.