"L'Antique Tolède" was one of the few short films by Segundo de Chomón produced by the short-lived and little-known Iberico Films company founded by the director. By 1912, Chomón had fully ended his career in creating trick films for Pathé and bringing the shorts and ideas of Méliès up-to-date, and was now bringing back an old pastime of his: cinematography. Many of his films from 1912 (with the exceptions of "Superstition Andalouse", "Metamorphoses" and "Iris Fantastique") mainly consisted of travelogues of cities in Spain, such as Girona, lots of Barcelona and here, Toledo. (Curiously, as another reviewer has pointed out, Chomón was also responsible for quite a few one-shot documentations of Spain at the beginning of his career). He had been trained in nothing else other than cinematography and trick films, and the latter being a long outdated fad he now had to resort to the former.
"L'Antique Tolède" was, I believe, distributed by Pathé--due to the company's insignia which is the cock which appears at the end of the film. It shows many scenes of old Toledo--ones which were historic now and then, unlike the other travelogues the director produced--such as lots of old buildings, a bridge, wood architecture and many other sites. Despite the fact the director was a very good cinematographer, he here does not take a lot of advantage of that and keeps most of the shots stationary, including just a few pans in the mix. Also, for the most part little action occurs in frame and makes the film come across sort of like a set of photographs, grainy views at that which may have been shot on a lower quality form of filmstock due to a small company budget. Historically interesting and containing some fascinating views, but not particularly interesting for the casual modern viewer.
