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.
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.