El hotel eléctrico

"The Electric Hotel" is a very whimsical film--one that manages to make you smile over a hundred years later. This is a very unusual production, however, for director Segundo de Chomón as he himself stars in the film. He also appears with his wife, Julienne Mathieu--though she appeared in lots of his films without him.

"The Electric Hotel" is a completely silly film--and it intends to be. A couple arrive at a very modern hotel--so modern that the clothes put themselves away! In addition, by pushing buttons, the room will clean your shoes (this bit went on a bit too long), give you a makeover and even write a letter home telling everyone how much you are enjoying your vacation! All of this is achieved through stop-motion cinematography. While this is a relatively primitive technique and been done successfully for several years by the time this film came out, it is done very well and makes for some convincing effects. Overall, I'd rate this as one of Chomón's best--and still highly enjoyable today.

Guests arrive at a fully automated hotel: their luggage travels to their room and unpacks itself, at a clap a table bearing buttons that the guests use to get their shoes shined and blackened, to disrobe, to get their hair done, to shave, and even to write letters home - all 'automatically'. Unfortunately, a drunken technician overloads the electrical system, causing chaos. The eight minute short is a monument to early stop-motion effects and must have taken ages to film (and considerable patience from the two actors, who must have sat still for hours as brushes and razers were slowly moved across their bodies). The then-revolutionary stop-motion technique is very well executed, notably as many objects travel up, suggesting that they were somehow fastened and refastened to the set for each frame. There is not much to the film other than the novelty (at least in 1908) of seeing animated suitcase, chairs etc., but it's fun in a quaint way and will interest anyone interested in early science-fiction films or in the history of special-effects.

Because there are no wires or anything to indicate electricity is actually at work. Instead, suitcases scoot along the floor to rooms where clothes put themselves away. The couple that checked into the hotel enter their room, clap their hands, and a table comes scooting into the room with various buttons on it. They push buttons and have their hair combed and rearranged, the man has his beard shaved, and their shoes are polished while they are wearing them. They push another button and letters are written letting their loved ones know they have arrived at their destination safely. For you Gen Z kids, letters are what we wrote before texting was a thing.

As the couple retires for the night, there is a message in the film about the dangers of relying too much on automation. A drunken night watchman throws the switches on the electric system in such a way that the entire thing goes haywire and the furniture is jumbled about, tossing the guests around in the process.

This film used stop motion to obtain the effects seen, and is one of the earliest uses of that method to tell a story. It's also an example of a rare surviving early film from Spain.