Underplayed Gems

The Barber of Seville (1904)

The Barber of Seville poster
Original title
Le Barbier de Séville
Directed by
Georges Méliès
Genre
comedy film, silent film
Country
France
Runtime
22 min
Rating
10.0 of 10 from 1 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.

More films like this

How it feels

This early silent comedy retells the classic story of a clever barber who helps a young count win the love of a beautiful woman. The plot involves disguises, a grumpy guardian, and a series of comic schemes.

slapsticktheatricalwhimsicallightheartedplayfulbrisk

What happens

The Barber of Seville (French: Le Barbier de Séville), also released as The Barber of Sevilla, or the Useless Precaution, was a 1904 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on the 1775 play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 606–625 in its catalogues, where it was advertised as a comédie burlesque en 7 actes, d'après Beaumarchais. Like several other of Méliès's longer films, two versions were released simultaneously: a complete 22-minute print and an abridged print. As with his 1904 film Faust and Marguerite, Méliès prepared a special film score for The Barber of Seville, adapted from the most well-known arias from the Rossini opera. Like at least 4% of Méliès's entire output (including such films as A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, The Kingdom of the Fairies, and The Rajah's Dream), some prints were individually hand-colored and sold at a higher price. The film is currently presumed lost. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.