Naval Combat in Greece
An officer calls his sailors to the deck. They assemble around the canon while the officer scans the horizon. They all turn in the direction of the camera to look in the distance. At the same time the ship is hit! This scene is a filmed reconstruction of the 1897 Greek-Turkish war.
From the archive
Star Film Catalogue no. 110 Combat Naval en Grèce (Naval Combat in Greece) Director: Georges Méliès Production Co: Star-Film Country: France Release Date: 1897 Length: 1' 6" This is a very quaint film from Georges Méliès. Seen today, you'll probably laugh at how antiquated it looks. However, keep in mind that this film is still way ahead of the norm for the era, as back in the late 1890s, most films were amazingly mundane--such as showing trains arriving at stations and people playing cards. The film is a recreation of a scene from a naval battle off the Greek coast. The boats and backgrounds are clearly painted but what struck me was how the boat rocked. Heck, if it was in a hurricane it never would have rocked THIS fast! Obviously folks were off camera rocking the set up and down -but they did it so quickly you can't help but laugh. But, with a decent set, nice explosions and a decent style, it's still an intriguing look into the early work of this brilliant director. - 21 July 2011 | by planktonrules (Bradenton, Florida)
Why this is free to watch
Naval Combat in Greece (1897) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Internet Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Georges Méliès
- Starring
- Georges Méliès
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