Underplayed Gems

Crying and Laughing (1900)

Crying and Laughing poster
Directed by
Georges Méliès
Genre
silent film
Country
France
Runtime
1 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Two people are shown together in a single shot. One cries while the other laughs manically.

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What happens

Crying and Laughing (French: Gens qui pleurent et Gens qui rient) is a 1900 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 306 in its catalogues. The survival status of the film is unclear. In a 1979 book, John Frazer reported that he had seen the film in a private collection; it was a one-minute medium shot of two people together, one crying, one laughing manically. However, Jacques Malthête's 2008 filmography of Méliès's work lists the film as lost. In 2020, the film festival Il Cinema Ritrovato featured a one-minute film from the archives of the Centre national du cinéma, listing the film as Gens qui pleurent, gens qui rient and suggesting that it may be Méliès's film; the attribution is to "[Georges Méliès?]", with a question mark. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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