|
A Quick-Change Mesmerist
(1908) England
B&W : Short film
Directed by Walter R. Booth
Cast: (unknown)
The Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited, production; distributed by The Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was released in the USA in November 1908.
Comedy.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Into the orderly study of an apparently mild and respectable gentleman, an escaped convict breaks. The host is in no way dismayed or angry. Instead, he sympathizes with the wretch, upon whom he exercises his undoubted powers as a mesmerist. Great success follows this and every experiment. Not only does he hypnotize his human subjects, but their very articles of dress. Rapid change follows rapid change; feminine garments fly to males, and vice versa, and all is done with a rapidity which deceives even the eye of the camera. The mesmerist in the garb of the convict escapes from his own house, and is hotly pursued by warder and policeman. Cheerfully and merrily the pursuit is kept up, the mesmerist victimizing all with whom he comes in contact and making them work his own sweet and laughing will. The results are immediately apparent, each “subject” becoming wildly exhilarated as the change is affected. Subsequently the supposed convict is cornered in a barber’s shop as he is being shaved. His victims all surround the chair, from which the mesmerist rises, himself transformed into Mephistopheles. Again bringing his marvelous hypnotic powers into play, he changes the costumes of his would-be captors, who appear as clowns, golliwogs and other laughter-creating beings, and dance madly around the mesmerist. Finally he disappears in a puff of smoke and all his victims fall exhausted and wonder-stricken to the ground.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: (unknown) [United Kingdom]; Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 27 December 2024.
References: Montogmery-Comedy p. ? : Website-IMDb.
|
