Segundo de Chomón

A monkey comes home and uses a magic wand to make himself dinner. No sooner as he falls asleep, a hungry burglar enters his house. This short film was made by Segundo de Chomón in 1923 in his private studio with the help of his wife and son, outside of any studio structure, and has never had a regular distribution.

Likely an unethical appropiation of Georges Méliès's film from 1902. "Although [Gulliver en el país de los gigantes] has been much talked about, there is little evidence of its existence." -Wikipedia (Google-translated from Catalán)

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.

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.

A family tries to eat dinner, but the table vanishes and reappears, changes shape and location, all in the usual manner laid down by Melies, but here copied by Segundo de Chomón.

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.

A monkey comes home and uses a magic wand to make himself dinner. No sooner as he falls asleep, a hungry burglar enters his house. This short film was made by Segundo de Chomón in 1923 in his private studio with the help of his wife and son, outside of any studio structure, and has never had a regular distribution.

Likely an unethical appropiation of Georges Méliès's film from 1902. "Although [Gulliver en el país de los gigantes] has been much talked about, there is little evidence of its existence." -Wikipedia (Google-translated from Catalán)

Likely an unethical appropiation of Georges Méliès's film from 1902. "Although [Gulliver en el país de los gigantes] has been much talked about, there is little evidence of its existence." -Wikipedia (Google-translated from Catalán)

Likely an unethical appropiation of Georges Méliès's film from 1902. "Although [Gulliver en el país de los gigantes] has been much talked about, there is little evidence of its existence." -Wikipedia (Google-translated from Catalán)

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.

A family tries to eat dinner, but the table vanishes and reappears, changes shape and location, all in the usual manner laid down by Melies, but here copied by Segundo de Chomón.

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.

A family troupe of acrobats, made up to appear Japanese, perform various unbelievable stunts in front of the camera, achieved through a trick of the camera.

The documentary was entirely filmed in the province of Burgos, containing monuments and architecture considered emblematic of Spanish heritage. Color was added to the film at a later date, by hand. Burgos is a fine example of the timeless beauty of hand-stenciled film, as well as sound actuality filmmaking by two cinematic pioneers.

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

Segundo de Chomón's remake of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.

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).

The legend of Ali Baba and the forty thieves: Ali Baba discovers a hidden cave where a band of thieves have stored their enormous treasure. Cassim also learns about the cave, but he is caught by the thieves and put to death. Knowing that their secret has been found out, the thieves devise a trick in an attempt to kill Ali Baba and anyone else who might know about their hiding place.

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).

A short film documenting the wedding ceremony of Princess Ena to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Showing the royal carriage, the royal procession through the streets to the palace steps, etc.

A Segundo de Chomón trick film.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

In front of a portico, a music teacher teaches music theory to a group of young women, including Julienne Mathieu. A piano stands on the right side. A staff is drawn at the top of the portico. The four singers have extendable necks, and their heads, as they elongate, form notes. Beneath the heads, thus detached from their bodies, and against a black background, white cut-out paper figures come to life. Then the heads return to the women's shoulders. From a white ball placed in the middle of the painting, eggs emerge and are placed on the staff. Then stick figures also emerge, forming the stems of the notes. Finally, stick figures come to life. This scene is repeated three times with different animations.

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.

A group of travellers go into a house for protection. Little do they know, it is filled with ghosts who make unusual things happen to them.

A group of travellers go into a house for protection. Little do they know, it is filled with ghosts who make unusual things happen to them.

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

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

This is another short, simple dance number. It’s quite stunning and unusual though with a bat turning into a woman who proceeds to give us a skirt dance before disappearing into thin air. The dance is mesmerising with the skirt stunningly changing colour throughout the film.

The devil performs his magical powers.

The Queen Bee and her entourage appear dancing around the hive. Suddenly, a splendid rose rises in a bed of flowers, comes to life and flies off with the Queen Bee. Then the Queen of Roses returns to her original state. The Queen Bee is saddened by the loss of her beautiful companion and, after inhaling the fragrance of the roses, falls asleep. A spider spins its web over her and traps her, but a swarm of bees quickly arrives and frees their Queen. The final scene is a graceful ballet featuring charming ballerinas portraying roses and bees.

Two contortionists, dressed as devils, invade a kitchen.

This early silent era film was released in France circa 1908 by Segundo de Chomón. It is partially hand coloured and shows several Japanese characters and eventually a worm change into a butterfly which while flapping it's wings changes colours as it flies.

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.

De Chomon film from 1908. Existing film is incomplete in length.

Daring scientists embark on a scientific exploration to the center of the earth. A vast subterranean corridor leads them through a fantastical phantasmagoria, into the deep abysses, where they come face to face with the Secret. Spontaneous growth of monsters springs up around them as jets of flame and molten metal erupt from the subterranean walls, falling onto pools of boiling water, and volcanoes spew forth their fiery lava. Miraculously escaping death, our scientists return safe and sound from their journey to the otherworld. (Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé)

Daring scientists embark on a scientific exploration to the center of the earth. A vast subterranean corridor leads them through a fantastical phantasmagoria, into the deep abysses, where they come face to face with the Secret. Spontaneous growth of monsters springs up around them as jets of flame and molten metal erupt from the subterranean walls, falling onto pools of boiling water, and volcanoes spew forth their fiery lava. Miraculously escaping death, our scientists return safe and sound from their journey to the otherworld. (Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé)

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the black background of the wonderful garden there appear myriad flowers, in the center of each of which is a smiling feminine head. Tableaux showing pretty girl and flower effects are plentiful and the film winds up with a burst of multi-colored flame, which shoots in fiery splendor from leaves and petals.

In a bower of giant tulips a boy and girl practice flower magic. They cause flowers and birds to open and human forms to issue therefrom, and on the black background of the wonderful garden there appear myriad flowers, in the center of each of which is a smiling feminine head. Tableaux showing pretty girl and flower effects are plentiful and the film winds up with a burst of multi-colored flame, which shoots in fiery splendor from leaves and petals.

Some gnomes are searching for a wonderful spider that weaves webs of golden coins. Intent on their search, they are unaware that their movements are closely followed by a poor woodcutter, who also penetrates into their caves when they have caught the spider and imprisoned it there. He watches the wonderful spider making gold and other articles with wonder and in this scene the moving picture camera has excelled itself in turning out some good tricks, and finally he steals the golden spider. (Moving Picture World)

A magician is surprised when he attempts to transform a beetle.