Underplayed Gems

Tribulation or the Misfortunes of a Cobbler (1908)

Tribulation or the Misfortunes of a Cobbler poster
Original title
Épreuves ou les Malheurs d'un savetier
Directed by
Georges Méliès
Genre
comedy film, silent film
Country
France
Runtime
9 min
Rating
5.5 of 10 from 2 voters
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

A cobbler's life gets turned upside down by a series of mishaps. Georges Méliès plays a Roman character who interacts with a merchant and a farrier. The film uses early special effects like stage machinery and pyrotechnics to create its comedy.

playfulslapstickinventivesilent-erasimplecomedictheatricalwhimsical

What happens

Tribulation or the Misfortunes of a Cobbler is a 1908 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. Méliès himself appears in the film as the Roman, alongside two of his frequent collaborators: Fernande Albany as the merchant, and Manuel as the farrier. A 1981 guide to Méliès's work speculated that Manuel may have also directed the film, noting that it matches his usual staging style. The film's special effects are created with stage machinery, pyrotechnics, substitution splices, multiple exposures, and dissolves. The film was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company, but no French release, French-language title, or catalogue number has been located for it. The film has been known to scholarship since at least 1979, when John Frazer described it in a book on Méliès; however, Frazer misidentified it as a different Méliès film, The New Lord of the Village. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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