Entre Calais et Douvres (1897) User Reviews

One Joke.... plus one inside

[boblipton · 5/10 · 13 March 2008]

It's a rough sea when crossing the Channel and the half dozen people abovedecks are having a tough time keeping their equilibrium..... except for the Englishman, who is busy enjoying his tea.

The inside joke is the earliest appearance I have seen of the movie trademark: if you've seen early Griffith films -- from about 1908 -- they plastered the Biograph AB everywhere. Since you had a tough time enforcing any sort of film copyright -- although you could print out the film on paper and submit it as a book to the library of Congress, whence comes a lot of recent restorations -- you plastered your trademark everywhere you could. Here the boat is labeled "Robert Houdin Star Line". Melies operated out of the Theatre Robert-Houdin.

This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.

A little camera trickery...though not done particularly well.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 8 September 2020]

I have seen a few silents where folks were supposedly on a rocking boat but the effect was just achieved by rocking the camera...not the boat. In most of these (including a Buster Keaton short), the rocking is WAY overdone...going way too fast to be realistic. Here in perhaps the earliest such film, Georges Méliès uses this trick...with middling efforts. The boat is supposed to be rocking but if you watch some of the passengers aren't being affected by the rocking at all! A bit sloppy but since it was so early, some of this can be forgiven.

By the way, the ship had a plaque on it saying "Robert Houdin Star Line". Robert Houdin was a super-famous magician of the 19th century (like Méliès) and is considered by some as the father of modern magic.

Between Calais and Dover review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 21 April 2020]

Lively farce which demonstrates both Georges Melies' imagination and his failure to appreciate that too much going on in one scene confuses and frustrates the audience.

Early Slapstick

[Tornado_Sam · 26 August 2018]

This 1897 film by Georges Méliès already shows how his creativity and filmmaking was already ahead of the rest, despite the fact this was only his second year in the industry. Instead of 'weary travelers' being haunted at inns or cavaliers being tormented in haunted castles, here the famous director goes for laughs with some simple slapstick. However, rather than filming a gardener getting sprayed by a hose or bill-posters fighting, Méliès gets far more innovative here as he builds a rocking platform and uses it to show some British gents struggling to get their sea legs. Although not really particularly laughable today, you have to admire all the work Méliès put into crafting this little movie, the joke being a new one compared to the cliche one-gag shorts of the time. In addition, because of this innovative physical humor, it also shows some creativity in the field of slapstick which later led to the likes of Buster Keaton and Max Linder--while at the same time the element of creativity shows how much work was put into its making. To go to the trouble of constructing a set and platform for such a work shows commitment.

It's also notable that this bears a slight resemblance to "Sea Fighting in Greece" from the same year, in the sense that both use the rocking and both take place on a ship. Of the two, "Sea Fighting in Greece" is the more cheaply made despite being shot first, using fewer actors and a less convincing set design, while on the other hand, the latter does not use the advantage of the rocking to make people stumble and trip, but instead relies on using the gimmick to further carry the illusion of being on board a boat. Clearly the same platform was used, and I assume Méliès was very pleased with the effect it made, as both were made nearly back-to-back.

Rough ride on the Channel

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 9 September 2013]

In this early short film, Georges Méliès shows us the struggling of a group of exquisitely-bearded travelers trying to get from Calais to Dover on the famous. However, it's a really rough day and certainly not a relaxing chilly travel from France to England. We see a big cardboard describing the company (Houdini?) Star Board which gives actually a more upper-class impression, so one might wonder what the travel must have been for those who could not effort such privilege. Or if they could make the travel at all? In any case, there's truly lots of slapstick in this slightly more than 60 seconds. The passenger to the left keep stumbling and falling throughout the entire film and his mustached fellow, despite better balance, finally has to give in to gravity as well. Even worse, his meal and the small table he so desperately tries to hold up go down with him. If you get seasick easily, I'm sure you can feel the men's struggles and may even feel a slight urge to throw up yourself thanks to Méliès doing a fine job with the constant movements.

A Rough Trip

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 10 November 2017]

This is kind of fun. We get to see a group of pompous Britishers trip and fall all over themselves as their boat rocks. They can't seem to get their sea legs which I'm sure was amusing to the viewers. It's interesting how early cinema depended so much on pratfalls for laughter. I suppose it made the audience feel superior to see their rivals across the channel looking foolish.

Between Calais and Dover

[Michael_Elliott · 28 March 2008]

Between Calais and Dover (1897)

** (out of 4)

aka Entre Calals et Douvres

A ship is sailing in rough seas and the people aboard must try and get to the bottom of the boat. This film runs just over a minute and I think it was meant to be a comedy with all the people falling over themselves trying to reach safety. The comedy never really works because not too much is happening on the ship. The camera stays place throughout with the boat rocking from side to side and that's pretty much it. This is certainly one of director Melies lesser films and this is for fans only. If you're new to the director then there are better films to watch.