The Chimney Sweep (1906) User Reviews

One of Georges Méliès' films that really needed intertitle cards.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 7 September 2020]

In the early days of film, few filmmakers used intertitle cards in order to explain the story or convey dialog. Usually this wasn't a problem, but in the case of "Jack le Ramoneur" I couldn't even understand the story without them, as it's a confusing mess from master filmmaker Georges Méliès.

The story starts off with the chimney sweep being found by fairies and he is made some sort of king. Folks all dance about him for no apparent reason and I was confused. Then, he awakens..it was all a dream. Okay...now that made some sense. But what happens next? Much more confusion. The boy works for an abusive man who kicks him about for no reason. Later when they are cleaning a chimney, the boss finds a treasure chest in the chimney. The boy wants to give it to the home owners...the boss runs away with it and lots of folks give chase

The story is confusing and lacks much of the fun and magic that you associate with a Georges Méliès film. Instead, it has nice sets, some outdoor footage (something rare for this filmmaker) and not much in the way of story. It's a shame, as SOME of the footage (particularly the beginning) was gorgeous.

Bricolage

[Cineanalyst · 16 August 2013]

This Georges Méliès film, "The Chimney Sweep," doesn't make much sense by itself. Richard Abel in his book "The Ciné Goes to Town" suggests that it and another Méliès short from 1906, "A Desperate Crime," were imitations of Pathé's dramatic and realist films. In trying to make sense of "The Chimney Sweep," he also suggests that it "could be said to follow the bricolage model of combining several different genres into a single format, perhaps explicitly for an audience of children."

This sheds some light on why the film begins as a fantasy--the dream of a child chimney sweep wishing to be rich--then, goes into a narrative of the boy trying to fulfill his wish by stealing a box of treasure, and ends like a comedic chase film. Another word for this, however, is that it's a mess. It's interesting to speculate how something such as this might've not seemed like such a disorganized hodgepodge to nickelodeon audiences already accustomed to seeing programs of short films from different genres back to back. Surely, it was also this booming nickelodeon market that encouraged Méliès to start making subjects in various genres at this later stage in his career, as opposed to focusing almost exclusively on trick films and féeries (fairy films) in earlier years.

Variations on a Theme: the Little Match Girl

[boblipton · 9/10 · 15 March 2008]

Another of Melies dreams of an easier life as a poor chimney sweep -- recall if you will, that this dirty and dangerous task was performed by children who could fit into cramped, sooty chimneys -- falls asleep and dreams he is clean, caparisoned in rich clothes and seated on a throne, where officers and courtiers dance for his delight. Melies' subtext is not at all subtle here, but it is no less powerful a plea for an end to child labor for that. A clear example of the fact that fantasy allows us to examine those issues which straight fiction is too harsh or nuanced for clarity.

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 Weakest Melies I've Seen

[Michael_Elliott · 20 March 2010]

Chimney Sweep, The (1906)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

aka Jack le ramoneur

Having seen over one-hundred films from Melies, to date this here is the worst. A poor chimney sweeper, a young child, dreams that he is rich and sitting on a throne as people dance for him. This 10-minute short was pretty much a chore to sit through and I can't remember a time when I was so bored with something from Melies filmmography. I've heard that this was Melies attempt to shine a light on child labor laws and perhaps what this was meant to be but that never really comes across on screen. Usually these longer Melies films come with a narration track and it's funny that I recently said they weren't needed but it actually was here. There's never any real idea where the film is trying to go or what it's trying to do. The fantasy sequence is way too boring to hold up the longer running time and there's not an ounce of that magic that Melies is so well-known for.

Ten-Minute Fragment by Méliès

[Tornado_Sam · 25 April 2017]

Though many consider "Chimney Sweep" to be a complete drama film by the French Cinemagician filmmaker Georges Méliès, what we have now is apparently, according to the description in Méliès's Catalogue of Genuine and Original Star Films, an exceptionally long fragment of an original sixteen-minute work. There is plenty of evidence: at the opening of the print there's a trace of a dissolve from another scene just disappearing, and the ending is also missing as it concludes unexpectedly in the midst of some action. Undoubtedly, it is sad the beginning sections and ending sections are gone because as one of Méliès's longer movies it deserves recognition, and evidently has not received this recognition probably due to the later year and less fantastic plot.

The film is about a boy named Jack who is kidnapped and made into a chimney sweep by his rather cruel boss, although the kidnapping was apparently never a scene from the film according to the Star Film Catalogue. At night he dreams about being made king and having people dance for him--which is where the remaining fragment kicks in--but this comes to an end after being roughly woken up early in the morning for work. Then, whilst climbing a chimney, he finds a treasure hidden beneath the rock which is rightly his, and a comedic chase for the valuables ensues with some nice outdoor scenery unusual for the director.

Considering the short is fragmentary, it's hard to say anything about it due to around six minutes of the original currently missing. I suppose if it was all there the film would be an interesting example of Méliès's development into slapstick, but as the other reviewer said, it's hard to see what the director was trying to do here because the fragment goes nowhere and ends on a cliffhanger. Nonetheless, as pointed out by Cineanalyst, the chase scene and the generally more dramatic story show how Méliès was trying to change with the times, and the dream sequence was no doubt the director trying to refreshingly make use of his lovely sets and add his distinguishing trademark. In the end, it probably isn't worthwhile for anybody except Méliès enthusiasts because the story simply isn't complete without the beginning and end, although is interesting historically as showing the filmmaker's progression into slapstick and drama.