Ten Ladies in One Umbrella
Directed byGeorges Méliès
StarringGeorges Méliès
Production
company
Release date
  • 1903 (1903)
CountryFrance
LanguageSilent

La Parapluie fantastique, known in English as Ten Ladies in One Umbrella, Ten Girls in One Umbrella, and Ten Ladies in an Umbrella, is a 1903 French short silent film by Georges Méliès.

Production and themes

Méliès plays the magician in the film, the special effects for which were achieved using substitution splices and dissolves.[1]

The film is strongly influenced by the Pygmalion myth, as is suggested by the inscription "Galathea Théâtre" on the set and various classical motifs, including Grecian costumes, classical musical instruments such as the auloi and the lyre, and a backdrop showing a classical landscape with a tempietto. Classical scholar Martin M. Winkler concludes: "Méliès the filmmaker-wizard-creator is evidently a modern Pygmalion."[2]

Release

The film was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 506–507 in its catalogues. In America, the film was sold as Ten Ladies in One Umbrella; in Britain, the title was Ten Girls in One Umbrella.[3] The variant title Ten Ladies in an Umbrella was used for David Shepard's 2008 restoration of the film.[4] A paper print of the film survives at the Library of Congress.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France, Bois d'Arcy: Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie, 1981, pp. 152–53, ISBN 2903053073
  2. ↑ Winkler, Martin M. (2020), Ovid on Screen: A Montage of Attractions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 173
  3. ↑ Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 346, ISBN 9782732437323
  4. ↑ Méliès, Georges (2008), Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (DVD; short film collection), Los Angeles: Flicker Alley, ISBN 978-1893967359
  5. ↑ Niver, Kemp R.; Bergsten, Bebe (1985), Early Motion Pictures: The Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, p. 321
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