The Genius of Segundo de Chomón ( Los H roes del Sitio de Zaragoza / L'Hereu de Can Pruna / Barcelone, Parc au Cr puscle / Le Roi de Dollars / Plongeur Fa [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Spain ]

Spain released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Silent ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Segundo de Chomón (1871-1929) became involved in film through his wife, who was an actress in Path films. In 1902 he became a concessionary for Path in Barcelona, distributing its product in Spanish-speaking countries, and managing a factory for the colouring of Path films. He began shooting actuality films of Spanish locations for the company, then 1905 moved to Paris where he became a trick film specialist. The body of work he created over five years was outstanding. Films such as Le Spectre Rouge, Kiriki - Acrobates Japonais, Le Voleur Invisible and Une Excursion Incoh rente are among the most imaginative and technically accomplished of their age. De Chomón created fantastical narratives embellished with ingenious effects, gorgeous colour, innovative hand-drawn and puppet animation, tricks of the eye that surprise and delight, and startling turns of surreal imagination (see, for example, the worms that crawl out of a chocolate cake in Une Excursion Incoh rente, one of a number of films where visitors or tourists are beset by nightmarish haunted buildings, a favourite de Chomón theme). It is curious why he is not generally known as one of the early cinema masters, except among the cognoscenti in the field. Perhaps it is because there is a smaller body of work than that created by Georges M li s (his works can perhaps be described as a cross between that of M li s and another who combined trickery with animation, Emile Cohl); perhaps it is...The Genius of Segundo de Chomón ( Los H roes del Sitio de Zaragoza / L'Hereu de Can Pruna / Barcelone, Parc au Cr puscle / Le Roi de Dollars / Plongeur Fa