Considering how there was barely any acting, direction, or writing when it came to the filmmaking around the turn of the century, this is an outstanding work. Not only does it include some realistic gun-smoke and a decent explosion, "The Surrender of Tournavos" uses trained actors (all unidentified now) with extremely convincing costumes and an amazingly convincing set. In fact, among all the set designs I've seen from this entrepreneur, this has to be one of the most convincing. Even now it's possible I would've fallen for its realism had the action not been so impossible to catch live.
The short recreates a scene from the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, so it's obvious Méliès was trying to fool his audiences into believing this to be the real thing. At only a minute long, several soldiers fight against the Greeks by shooting at them over the walls of a fort. However, eventually they break through so the soldiers must flee into the fort. From there, the Greeks use explosives to get into the building and the film ends.
Even though Méliès was known for his trick films, shorts such as these demonstrate how far ahead his filmmaking was from others of the time--that is, the various things he could accomplish that others had not. While there's nothing here that makes "The Surrender of Tournavos" feel like a Méliès work, it is still very impressive and one that film historians will want to check out--even if for the set alone.
The short recreates a scene from the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, so it's obvious Méliès was trying to fool his audiences into believing this to be the real thing. At only a minute long, several soldiers fight against the Greeks by shooting at them over the walls of a fort. However, eventually they break through so the soldiers must flee into the fort. From there, the Greeks use explosives to get into the building and the film ends.
Even though Méliès was known for his trick films, shorts such as these demonstrate how far ahead his filmmaking was from others of the time--that is, the various things he could accomplish that others had not. While there's nothing here that makes "The Surrender of Tournavos" feel like a Méliès work, it is still very impressive and one that film historians will want to check out--even if for the set alone.