Chapeaux à transformations

This feature highlights a pretty clever routine, with some funny moments. Unlike most Lumière films, it's really a filmed stage act, rather than material that made particular use of the cinematograph's special abilities. But one other thing that movies do is to allow viewers to see talented performers without having to travel so far away to do so.

The routine itself is pretty good, and it has some features that are quite clever. In going through the "Transformation By Hats", the performer matches hats, facial features, and gestures to create in each case a clearly defined personality. The various transformations come in quick succession, making the effect even more impressive. There is also good variety in the choice of effects.

Though it does not have the technical innovation found in many Lumière films, this one is well worth seeing just for the entertainment value.

This approximately 40-second long Lumiere Brothers short (Lumiere No. 105) features frequent Lumiere collaborator Félicien Trewey performing a variation on his famed "chapeaugraphy". Here, sitting in a chair, he dons hats, fake facial hair and even facial prosthetics in quick succession to perform characters for a few seconds before moving on to the next.

While in terms of visual composition Transformation by Hats is not much to talk about, the short is notable and very successful as a further Lumiere Brothers exploration of the fictional possibilities of film. Otherwise, the Lumieres were better known for their "actualities", or short documentary portraits.

Trewey, who was responsible for bringing the Lumieres' cinématographe to England, more often executed his chapeaugraphy with a single large piece of felt which he would shape into different kinds of hats to wear as different characters, relying also on facial expressions and contortions to effect the change--something like John Barrymore's turn at Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920). Surely the shaping of felt into different kinds of hats would take more than 40 seconds, so here, Trewey depends on his quick change abilities instead, keeping his hats and accessories on the ground, out of the camera range.

It's remarkable how quickly and "cleanly" Trewey can don each "disguise". Editing had not yet been exploited (even though edits are present in the earliest days of film at least in some Edison company shorts), or surely the Lumieres would have capitalized on that unique property of the new film medium instead.

Of course, it's debatable just how much the Lumieres intended to demonstrate the potential of the new medium rather than simply present a friend performing a part of his live act that had been adapted to suit the limitations of the medium. The truth is probably a mixture of intentions.

At any rate, the effect on the burgeoning film industry was more to give a glimpse of the possibilities of characterization, to show a relatively easy technical way to create various convincing characters on film, as would be necessary in producing the more extensive fictions soon to come.

Transformation by Hats (1895)

This early trick film from the Lumiere Brothers runs just under a minute but is quite entertaining. A man sits down at a chair and with each new hat he puts on, his facial look changes. Considering this was done in 1895, this is a pretty good film that certainly manages to keep you entertained throughout its short running time. Trick films were certainly the most popular around this era and it's clear that the Lumiere Brothers knew what they were doing. The routine itself is quite nice and I thought the actual "trick" was well-handled even if it does fall short of Melies best work.

Transformation by Hats (1895), can also be found in its original French title, Chapeaux à transformations (1895). It is another Lumière film, produced in 1895, that probably wasn't released to paying audiences until early 1896. It probably kept the 1895 tag, because it was shown to a test audience that year. The Lumiere's do a trick-film of their own, although this one has a man, reaching down below camera level, to grab different hats or disguises, off the floor, so he can change into them. The film is one shot and has no edits, however its "trickery" gives you a preview of the coming of Melies, in the next few years. Transformation by Hats (1895), is a clever little act. It is somewhat basic. It even includes the white wall in the background. It's just about this guy, who has a bunch of different disguises, that he wants to share with you.

7.7 (B- MyGrade) = 8 IMDB.

The Lumiere Brothers, as any film enthusiast knows, were 2 influential figures in cinematic history, being the originators of the Cinematograph, an invention which they used to shoot short documentary subjects. The Brothers were mostly know for their films in this genre: they never ventured into the stop-trick used by the cinemagician, Georges Melies; they seldom did any comedy like that of R. W. Paul; and they never even attempted a good exciting melodrama like those by Edwin S. Porter. So this one is a rather different film from them. It's an entertaining "gimmick" film where an actor on a stool (Felicien Trewey, a vaudeville performer) puts on a hat or a wig and acts like that character of the hat he's wearing a couple seconds, before continuing on to the next. While it is meant to be comical, I would place this in the documentary genre too because it's basically a filming of Trewey's act (although he did alter it a bit so it would fit the run-time). Nice to see the Lumieres try something new, even if it is technically another documentary movie.