Segundo de Chomón

Tribute to Segundo de Chomón. Semi-documentary featuring short films and appearances by actors who explain his works, such as Inma de Santis, Jesús Gúzman, and Ana Mariscal.

An enthusiastic young couple is astounded with modern technology's giant leaps in the fascinating field of electricity.

The extraordinary life of cinema pioneer Segundo de Chomón.

The Devil visits Earth on a magic elevator. He surprises two sewer workers, disguises himself, and spreads chaos: a quarrel with a coachman, an altercation with a police sergeant, the confusion for a barman and others. He is trapped in a cage with a young woman and returns to Hell. It is revealed that the young woman is, in fact, the jealous Madame Devil in disguise. It is often confused with Le spectre rouge, notably in the IMDB database and subsequently in YouTube attributions.

A female magician presents several impressive metamorphoses, combining stop-motion animation and camera tricks.

Two rag-pickers enter their hovel with their bags of scraps. After a little preliminary comedy they set up a white sheet. One of the rag-pickers now takes a handful of scraps from the bag and throws them in confusion on the sheet. They immediately begin to dance and hop about on the white background and when they stop they have made a complete likeness of the King of England. The scraps are taken off and another handful thrown on, which in some manner resolve themselves into the likeness of the President of France.

A woman imagines the revenge of a gypsy that she sent away. This piece is told in multiple scenes, in an increasingly artificial world, as the venue shifts from a realistic courtyard to a wild, stagebound prison in which various stage monsters appear.

A woman imagines the revenge of a gypsy that she sent away. This piece is told in multiple scenes, in an increasingly artificial world, as the venue shifts from a realistic courtyard to a wild, stagebound prison in which various stage monsters appear.

Early short showing the titular park in around 2 minutes.

The first scene presents before the astonished eyes of the spectators a solid piece of marble, which the minute it is placed on a table seems to take life, and one can follow a snake-like line branding on the polished face of the stone the name of the house of Pathé Frères. As soon as this stone has been engraved, as by magic, a handsome young lady appears with a huge lump of clay covered with a cloth. As soon as the cloth is removed from the soft mass it starts whirling and turning as if stricken mad, and one is asking one's self what all the contentions are going to lead to, when the vague shape of an animal not yet discernible seems to appear, and before one has time to make one's mind as to the category of brutes to which it belongs one sees the form of a remarkably well made orang-utan modelled out of the clay, who calmly smokes his pipe. Then the statue is removed by the same winning young lady and another covered block of the same substance is carried forward.

Fascinating views of Toledo: Bridges, elaborately decorated halls and other architectural highlights that appear to date from as early as the 8th century.

A frog hops around a magic fountain.

A magician charms a caterpillar and turns it into a butterfly woman. This film is a blatant remake of Georges Méliès's "La Chrysalide et le Papillon d'or" (1901).

Helmed by Giovanni Pastrone, with Segundo de Chomón ably handling the stop-motion animation segment, The War and the Dream of Momi is equal parts patriotic pageantry and eye-popping puppetry.

1904 journalistic actuality.

“Music Forward!” is the order given by a lady in Colonial costume, and in march a group of five musicians, working industriously at their instruments. The directress stands them in a row, and taking the head off each, throws it onto a huge music staff and each becomes a note of the scale. The whole bodies appear again, after which the manipulator seems to wrap them up in a large sheet of music, which is then shown to contain nothing. The paper is rolled up again, and a cane is held, perpendicularly, in a horizontal position to the sheet.

The heir of a rich family puts up a notice, where he says he is looking for a wife. As a result, he will soon find himself fleeing from a dozen women.

The heir of a rich family puts up a notice, where he says he is looking for a wife. As a result, he will soon find himself fleeing from a dozen women.

Many of the scenes of this split-reel short about a bizarre group of tramp musicians who disappear into and out of drums, beach umbrellas and whatnots were shot in the street and the others were on stages decorated to look realistic.

Pathé film #2871. In a hotel, a weary traveler settles down to rest. But, hallucinations brought on by fatigue: monsters appear around the bed, which vanishes, while the traveler, thrown to the floor, gets up and grabs a chair. But it gives way beneath him and rolls to the other side of the room. The traveler tries again: the chair multiplies endlessly, multitudes of chairs fill the room but remain elusive to our traveler. Soon, they pile up around him, burying him as he struggles desperately… (Fondation Jerôme Seydoux-Pathé).

The devil performs his magical powers.

Rising from a stage are two vases which separate to reveal a female dancer behind each of the vases. They create magical circles of flowers from which other women emerge. The dancers construct an elegant floral display, in the middle of which a miniature dancer performs. Another circle of flowers is brought forward on the stage, toward the camera, and in the circle are shown a series of women. The original pair of dancers conclude by twirling their parasols.

Rising from a stage are two vases which separate to reveal a female dancer behind each of the vases. They create magical circles of flowers from which other women emerge. The dancers construct an elegant floral display, in the middle of which a miniature dancer performs. Another circle of flowers is brought forward on the stage, toward the camera, and in the circle are shown a series of women. The original pair of dancers conclude by twirling their parasols.

What seems to be a set of ancient armor is seen hanging on the wall, when suddenly it takes the form of a living knight, who hops to the floor and with one pass of his sword is transformed into a lady in medieval costume, who begins to execute a series of magic tricks

A top-hatted man gets dressed in the morning, and starts to yawn, causing his housekeeper to yawn as well. He sets off down the street where he proceeds to make others yawn as well, including a shop keeper, passers-by, and a small group of soldiers.

An artist watches as musical instruments come to life and St. Cecile appears. Segundo de Chomón's as director is speculative.

This is a mesmerising little short that employs a peculiar bird’s eye view of a mischievous devil who dances around, performing strange tricks and making sexy ladies appear out of nowhere. The colourful visual effects are very impressive for the time.

A Segundo de Chomón trick film.