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Moiti de polka
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Wikipedia article
'Moiti de polka' (literally "Half polka") was a 1908 French short silent film by Georges Mlis. It was sold by Mlis's Star Film Company and is numbered 13861393 in its catalogues.
Though the plot of the film is unknown, it may have been built around a parody of the famous illusionist Buatier de Kolta (born Joseph Buatier, 18451903). In the first decade of Mlis's directorship of the Thtre Robert-Houdin, a Paris venue for stage illusionists, Buatier was considered one of the worlds major magicians. His style was minimalist, in modern dress without scenery; Mlis adapted some of Buatier's illusions into his own very different style for some of his trick films, with 'The Vanishing Lady' and 'The Brahmin and the Butterfly' the most frequently cited examples.
In the 1899 edition of 'Passez Muscade', an annual revue at the Thtre, Mlis parodied his famous rival's act, caricaturing him as a pompous magician with the similar-sounding name "Moiti de Polka". (The revue even included a spoof of a specific Buatier illusion, "Le Miracle".) The film, reusing the name of Mlis's stage parody, may have featured a similar caricature of the illusionist.
'Moiti de polka' is currently presumed lost.
References
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