Dreyfus Put in Irons (1899) User Reviews

Dreyfus 3 of 8

[Michael_Elliott · 28 March 2008]

Dreyfus Court Martial - Arrest of Dreyfuss (1899)

Dreyfus: Devil's Island - Within the Palisade (1899)

Dreyfus Put in Irons (1899)

Dreyfuss Dreyfus: Suicide of Colonel Henry (1899)

Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon (1899)

Dreyfus Meets His Wife at Rennes (1899)

The Fight of Reporters (1899)

Dreyfus: The Court Martial at rennes (1899)

This here is a eight-film series centering around one character and I must say I don't really understand what Melies was going for unless he was simply trying to make nine different movies to sell to people and earn more money by doing it. None of the nine films are very interesting but put together I guess they hold some interest but none of them are entertaining enough to make the series work. You can read the titles and know exactly what happens as each film runs just over a minute and nothing too special happens in any of them. The most interesting one is Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon as it does contain some special effects in the form of a lightening storm but these effects aren't too good as several of the lightening strikes hit the people in the action but of course they don't feel it.

The Dreyfus Affair #4

[Tornado_Sam · 17 September 2018]

For a good chunk of his output in 1899, Georges Méliès committed himself to creating a series of short films detailing the events of the Dreyfus Affair political scandal, which was still progressing in France as the series was made. The serial, centering around Capt. Alfred Dreyfus who was accused of writing treasonous letters and discharged as a result, flared up the public which had already been divided into two groups: the Dreyfusards and the Anti-Dreyfusards (Méliès was one of the former). In the end, censorship was the answer--theater owners couldn't handle the disputes that the serial caused during showings. Thus, "The Dreyfus Affair" is now considered the first censored political movie.

Following the previous Devil's Island episode, "Dreyfus Put in Irons" apparently also takes place in the same location, only now inside the prison itself. Dreyfus is shown to be lying in bed, when two officers enter, tell him what they must do, and proceed to put his feet in the leg irons of the title while still in bed.

It's not apparent why Méliès bothered making this segment, except to show off another realistic set and to continue to cram his beliefs into people. Apparently, the reason for the leg irons was because somebody had published an article in the newspaper detailing Dreyfus's supposed escape plan. Méliès presumably decided to take the opportunity to gain more sympathy for the unfortunate officer using this premise. Again, the realism is strong for a non-fantasy environment, and it's understandable why audiences at the time believed these reconstructed newsreels to be documentations of the actual events.