Up-to-Date Surgery
| Up-to-Date Surgery | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
| Starring | Georges Méliès |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
Une indigestion,sold in the United States asUp-to-Date Surgeryand in Britain asSure Cure for Indigestion,and also known asChirurgie fin de siècle,is a 1902 Frenchshortsilent filmbyGeorges Méliès.
Production
[edit]Up-to-Date Surgeryis strongly reminiscent of, and was probably inspired by, "Le Charlatan Fin de Siècle" ( "The Turn-of-the-Century Charlatan" ), an 1892 stage illusion at Méliès's Paris venue, theThéâtre Robert-Houdin.[1]The stage illusion was a comic sketch in which an English patient, John Patt de Cok, visits the celebrated quack doctor Giuseppe Barbenmacaroni. Grotesque misadventures ensue, culminating in the patient exploding into pieces (though his head stays alive and well).[2]The stage illusion also recalls at least two other Méliès films,Twentieth Century Surgery(1900) andThe Doctor's Secret(1909).[1]
Méliès appears in the film as the doctor with the saw. From this film onward, Méliès shot two separateoriginal camera negativesfor each of his films: one for the domestic market, and one for foreign export.[3]
Themes
[edit]The film combines two recurring themes in Méliès's work: parodies of medical science, and body parts separated from their bodies.[4]The latter was a common theme fortrick filmsin the first years of cinema, such asCecil Hepworth'sExplosion of a Motor Car(1900) andAlice Guy'sChirurgie fin de siècle(1901).[5]
Film scholar Tom Gunning, who posits that the theme of separated body parts is "derived ultimately fromshamanism",comments thatUp-to-Date Surgerycould be seen as a sequel to the landmarkJames WilliamsonfilmThe Big Swallow(1901); both are concerned with the body's "mysterious inner space".[5]
Release
[edit]The film was sold by Méliès'sStar Film Companyand is numbered 422–425 in its catalogues.[6]The earliest known English-language titles areUp-to-Date Surgery(in the US market) andSure Cure for Indigestion(in the UK);[6]the titleChirurgie fin de sièclehas also been used by writers discussing the film.[7]TheLubin Manufacturing Companyre-released the film in the United States under the titleDr. Lorenz Outdone(Adolf Lorenzwas a famous surgeon of the time), describing the doctor character as "Dr. Lorenz No. 2".[8]
A print of the film survives at theGeorge Eastman Museum.[8]
References
[edit]- ^abMalthête, Jacques (1996),Méliès: images et illusions,Paris: Exporégie, p. 36
- ^Catoe, Lunette Ernestine (1967),Méliès, Magician of the Movies(MA Thesis), American University, p. 76
- ^Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008),L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès,Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 134,ISBN9782732437323
- ^Gordon, Rae Beth (2001),Why the French Love Jerry Lewis: From Cabaret to Early Cinema,Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, p. 184,ISBN9780804738941
- ^abGunning, Tom (2018), "The Impossible Body of Early Film", in Dahlquist, Marina; Galili, Doron; Olsson, Jan; Robert, Valentine (eds.),Corporeality in Early Cinema: Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form,Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, pp. 13–24
- ^abMalthête & Mannoni 2008,p. 344
- ^Hammond, Paul (1974),Marvellous Méliès,London: Gordon Fraser, p. 141,ISBN0900406380
- ^abBennett, Carl (2011),"Une Indigestion",Progressive Silent Film List,SilentEra.com,retrieved2021-01-01
