Gaston Velle Movies

An Italian movie about Othello.

This is an incomplete fragment of a longer film, so doesn’t make much sense, but it’s very beautiful and colourful with plenty of fireworks, flames and fountains as well as the customary fairies, magic and dancing.

A sorcerer conjures an old witch and instructs her to seek a maiden. Said maiden is assigned with the task to lure a young traveler inside the castle. Upon his arrival, said traveler is exposed to all sorts of unpleasant surprises. Trouble ensues.

Short Pathe Brothers film

This is in poor condition and the hand colouring is a little rough around the edges compared to the others, but it contains some impressive ‘appearing’ effects as pieces of paper from a giant book turn into people and then back to paper in the punchline. It’s repetitive, but enjoyably trippy.

A merchant is giving a demonstration of his lifelike automatons to a bedazzled customer. Could these "larger than life" clockwork figures look too good to be true?

A prestidigitator, one of the best, is about to perform a number of illusions and brings to his aid a pack of playing cards. He selects the King of Spades, endows him with life and seats him at the table with himself, and they proceed to play a game of cards. The King of Spades shows a disposition...

A little flower film by Gaston Velle.

The first cinematographic adaptation of the infamous Count Cagliostro.

The stages that a caterpillar goes through, from larvae to chrysalis, to become a butterfly.

A charming example of the Pathe stencil system of colour films, also using superimposition.

Little Bob stages his mechanical toys in a series of charming performances.

Short film showcasing a circus clown act.

As soon as his back is turned, Columbine is making out with Harlequin. So when he catches them at it, Gaston Séverin as Pierrot strikes her as Harlequin flees. Of course, he's terribly sorry when he thinks she's dead, and drinks.

A couple performs the Ruffian's Dance.

After a quarrel Pedro walks out of the cafe leaving his fiancée (Stacia Napierkowska) alone. Heartbroken, she visits the flower garden and there, flowers metamorphose into women and begin to dance.

A drunk staggers into his apartment and falls asleep. He dreams he climbs to the top of a building and flies to the moon, then falls back to earth. When he wakes, still drunk, he is in his apartment.

A couple steals food from a grocery store. To stop them from repeating their crime, the cunning salesman electrifies his shop.

A devil puts a woman into a boiling cauldron in a fiery cave.

This has more of a clear narrative than most of the films in the set although it’s still quite odd and random compared to today’s films. There are some effectively surreal and creepy sequences in this imaginative short, such as the devil’s face appearing in an egg and spewing coins as well as...