Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1901
Par le trou de la serrure
Buy Par le trou de la serrure now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Par le trou de la serrure' is a 1901 French silent short comedy film directed by Ferdinand Zecca and distributed in France by Path Frres. It was also distributed in the United States under the titles 'What Is Seen Through a Keyhole' and 'What Happened to the Inquisitive Janitor', and in the United Kingdom under the titles 'What Happened: The Inquisitive Janitor' and 'Peeping Tom'.Review and link to watch the film:
Plot
A hotel porter finds out the secrets of the guests by looking through the keyholes of four different rooms:
* in the first one he sees a woman combing her hair,
* in the second, what looked like a woman removes her whig and false breasts, revealing that she was in fact a transvestite,
* in the third, a man drinks champagne with a woman sitting on his lap,
* finally the door of the fourth room opens while he is watching and the furious guest kicks him down the stairs.
Analysis
After being hired by Charles Path as main film director of the recently created film production company Path Frres, Zecca convinced Path to produce in addition to documentaries other genres of films, notably comedy films such as this one but also crime films, like 'Histoire d'un crime' (1901), or religious subjects, like '[http://www.acinemahistory.com/2013/06/la-vie-et-la-passion-du-christ-1903.html La vie et la passion du Christ]' (1903).
He also introduced in France innovations with respect to cinematographic style. 'Par le trou de la serrure' is the first French film featuring editing in order to combine wide shots and medium close-up point of view shots. Zecca was clearly influenced by George Albert Smith who had used for the first time these innovations in 1900 in his short films 'Grandma's Reading Glass' and 'As Seen Through a Telescope'.Georges Sadoul and Yvonne Templin, 'Early Film Production in England: The Origin of Montage, Close-Ups, and Chase Sequence', Hollywood Quarterly, Apr., 1946, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Apr., 1946), University of California Press, pp. 249-259
'Par le trou de la serrure' is also characteristic of a certain voyeuristic trend in early cinema in showing what was normally hidden in a hotel room. The film was judged by some, notably Georges Mlis's granddaughter, as being of dubious taste.Madeleine Malthte-Mlis, 'Mlis et la naissance du spectacle cinmatographique', Klincksieck, 1984, p.130.
Distribution
'Par le trou de la serrure' was distributed by Path Frres in 1901 in France, and in 1902 in the United States. In the latter country, it was also distributed by the Kleine Optical Company, the Edison Manufacturing Company, and the Lubin Manufacturing Company.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258003 IMDB: Par le trou de la serrure]
References
Buy Par le trou de la serrure now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1901