Crazy Cinématographe. European Cinema of Attractions 1896 1916

2-disc DVD about the origins of the cinema. Dogs playing the piano, contortionists defying the pain limits, and local news «in life size and movement» early fairground cinema was a great attraction and sensation. Besides the variety theatres, it were particularly the travelling cinemas which contributed to the rapid establishment of the cinematograph as a popular medium. With the tongue-in-cheek title, similar to a barkers's yell, «Crazy Cinématographe», this double DVD reveals the buried tradition of annual market cinema. Hand-coloured serpentine dances, erotic piquancies and local street scenes evoke the colourful diversity of early short-film programmes. The DVD European Cinema of Attractions 1896-1916 shows, in a varied sequence, rarities from the treasure chests of the European film archives ranging from Danish anarchistic slapstick to Scottish X-ray films and a Belgium film showing a hunt. The DVD Local Films from the Greater Region 1902-1914 presents a forgotten film genre which was, in its day, a real crowd puller in travelling cinema. This DVD features films, including from the Marzen family, from Luxembourg, Trier and Saarbrücken which depict the local people who would then pay to see themselves in «living portraits» on the big screen.

European Cinema of Attractions 1896 1916 (99')
Music scores by Günter A. Buchwald
8page booklet with text on travelling cinema
Local Films from the Greater Region 1902-1914 (66')
Music scores by John Sweeney
Audio commentaries in german, french, english, luxemburgish and Trier dialect

Edition Filmmuseum 18 – Double DVD
Language Intertitles français, english Subtitles deutsch, english
Screen 1:1.33 - 4/3 PAL Sound Music scores Dolby Stereo 2.0 FSK 14+ Region code All regions