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The Vacuum Cleaner
In this funny picture we see the vacuum cleaner, the modern dust eradicator, performing some very droll tricks. As soon as the fellow turns on the air then the fun begins. It is all accomplished through some clever trick photography. First we see two attendants start out to do a cleaning job, and while they stop to take some refreshments, two men, who happen to be passing, take the machine and start down the sheet to have some fun. They meet a woman with a dog on a leash, and at a turn of the wheel, the dog and its mistress are quickly drawn into the spout. Next a nursemaid comes sauntering down the street, and when they level the spout at her she meets the same fate. A girl and her lover are the next to disappear off the face of the earth, and still they go along, looking for more victims. (Moving Picture World)
| Release : | 1908 |
| Rating : | 5.6 |
| Studio : | Pathé Frères, |
| Crew : | Director, |
| Cast : | |
| Genre : | Fantasy Comedy Science Fiction |
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Reviews
To me, this movie is perfection.
How sad is this?
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Here the Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomon once again borrows the special effects from Melies-except here, instead of a regular magic show as is typical of Melies, Chomon uses the simple stop-trick effect to tell a bizarre story about some thieves stealing a vacuum cleaner and using it to perform their thievery. It's simple and unsophisticated, and a decent feature. I'm sure audiences, though not fascinated by the effects anymore, laughed at the people being sucked up, and the ending part where the original owners of the vacuum come back for revenge adds a nice twist. I think I'd recommend seeing it, as it's probably one of the directer's better short films.
"The Vacuum Cleaner" is a hilarious film considering that it was made in 1908 and it still stands up very well today. Segundo de Chomón has crafted a funny little film that is quite clever.The film begins with a couple guys pushing a HUGE hand-cranked vacuum cleaner down the street. They leave it for a moment and two jerks find the machine and decide to have fun--sucking all sorts of objects and even people into the machine! It's done through stop-motion--stopping the machine as the objects seem to be pulled into the giant vacuum hose and then restarting the camera after the object or person has been taken off-camera. It's a crude effect by today's standards but it's done very well here. It makes for a cute little film that ends appropriately. Quite good and worth watching.
Segundo de Chomon was the big guns when it came to doing Melies films and stealing his audience -- with a twist. With Melies, what you usually got with the magic tricks was a magician. That, however, was a limited number of pieces and if you wanted to use those tricks -- particularly stop-motion disappearance -- you had to place them in a context, changing the magic from the point of the piece to the grammar.Although the line of grammar that de Chomon invented was a dead end -- the techniques would remain -- he executed them with more variety that Melies. Here a couple of thieves steal a street vacuum cleaner and use it to pilfer all manners of goods and people in a variety of settings, including some on the street, as opposed to Melies' controlled, set-bound pieces. It's no more than a variation, but a highly amusing one at that.
