Multimedia Collection
Ballet Mecanique
VHS
11 minutes
1924
PN1995.9 .E96 B35 1924a
Silent Film. The opening title "Charlot presente le Ballet mecanique" is presented by a cut-out likeness of Charlie Chaplin. The film then begins. A woman swings in a swing. Close-ups of a hat, then lips. The lips smile. Cut to wheels (gears) turning. The swinging woman is then printed upside-down. Quick close-ups of clocks' gears, machines, and fractured and faceted images. Cuts of trucks and feet marching. A circle and a triangle quickly alternate frames, creating a fast flickering effect (in the original print, the circle and triangle were hand-painted, but not in this print). Pistons move, egg beaters whir, and then a close-up of eyes. An older woman carrying a laden basket walks up some outdoor stairs. This last footage is repeated. An intertitle appears: On a vole un collier de perles de 5 millions. O's and harnesses shaped like O's are quickly intercut. Another intertitle appears: ZOV. The following images are cut in quick succession: a woman's head; Uncle Sam; disembodied legs; a clock; and a hat and shoe. The film ends with the cut-out Chaplin reappearing.
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