Partie d'écarté

Among the films in the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection that have been preserved is this hand-colored item that's little more than a minute and just depicts some men playing cards with a waiter serving them some drinks. What makes this historical is that this was from what was considered cinema's first year-1895-and was made by pioneers August and Louis Lumiere. Like many of their films, this was just a candid look at people doing everyday things and nothing else. So what fascinated me was how natural the people doing their thing looked and no one seemed to realized they were being photographed. There were a couple of other Lumiere works on the DVD that were of similar naturalness. So on that note, Partie de cartes is worth a look for historical reasons.

this film is a close relation to 'Repas de Bebe', a static scene at a table, in contrast to the films of movement, such as 'Sortie d'Usine' or 'Arrivee d'un train', suggesting a schizophrenia in the Lumieres' aesthetic, between the settle domestic and the energy of motion.

Not that 'Partie d'ecarte' is a tableau vivante - there is plenty of movement here, as three cardsharks are served drinks by a hyperactive waiter, a waiter who disrupts all symmetry - the card game; the positioning of the players; the composition of the image, with his intrusive, gestural obsequiousness. In a way, though he IS linked to the game, a game based on chance; he too is a wild card unsettling all attempts at harmony, at minimising the risks of chance.

The film is wonderful for other things too - the precariousness of a social order; the image of the fat complacent bourgeois; the pleasant country inn; the pouring of drinks - another level of movement, or framing of movement, in this deceptive short.

This is a Lumiere short featuring a popular element in early documentaries: a card game. If you've seen tons of these early actualities like I have then no doubt you may have seen several other shorts featuring this topic. The other film I've seen with this subject is "Partie de Cartes" a Georges Melies film (his first actually) and the set-up is the same. There are differences to the films though: Melies's version features a waitress, this one has a comical waiter; a joke in a newspaper is involved in Melies's film, here we've just got the waiter laughing to end the short

The movement in this one is limited making it less of a motion picture, but the subject is a comical one and must have amused people at the time. Today it is still pleasant to watch and is a lot less documentary-like than the Brothers' other work. In fact, I bet you it was staged due to everyone in the film being either family members or friends (and that includes the waiter).

On December 28, 1985, the Lumière brothers showed a new invention to the world, able to project motion pictures in a screen, in the same way as slide-show photographs were done. Lumière's movies showed the common events of real life as they were captured by their camera and brought to life by the Cinématographe; the thirty-three people who saw their movies for the first time watched in awe as people walked through streets or played cards as if the photograph projected on the screen was alive. It is often said that photographs are captured memories of the past, that allow us to revisit moments long gone and to witness events from a distant time and place. Well, if cinema is basically moving photographs, the same thing can be said about it, as when Louis and August Lumière decided to experiment with moving pictures, their principal motivation was to capture real life as they knew it. And they more than succeeded in their attempt.

On that first screening, the brothers showed 10 movies, but many more moves were done for future screenings. "Partie De Cartes" (literally, "Card Game") was one of those made to follow that initial success. What made "Partie De Cartes" different to most of the Lumière's actuality films, is that in this movie, the focus is not in showing movement, but on the capture on film of the characters and their actions. While many of the early films by the pioneers were done focusing on moving elements (trains, traffic, etc), this movie was about capturing a relaxed family scene, like a vignette or a modern family vacation film. "Partie De Cartes" is about a game of cards played between Antoine Lumière (the brothers' father), Félicien Trewey and Alphonse Winckler, while a waiter (Antoine Féraud) brings them drinks and comments on their game. While it has not really a plot, it is a charming scene that reflects the filmmakers' life and times.

Like "Repas De Bébé" ("Baby's Meal"), "Card Game" is a movie that contrasts sharply with the Lumière's style of film-making, but at the same time it complements it. Considering that both were photographers besides being inventors, it seems natural that this kind of vignettes were among the first movies done by the duo, as they perfectly understood the potential of cinema as an innovative form to capture memories with a higher realism than photographs. On a strictly technical level, "Partie De Cartes" is one of the best looking movies among their early films, and one could say that while no artists, the brothers had a pretty good idea of what would later be called "Mise-en-scène" (the overall visual composition), as they really set the camera in the best place to capture the action. While lacking the strong initial impact of their first movie ("La Sortie Des Usines Lumière") or the creativity of "L' Arroseur Arrosé", this Lumière movie is really interesting as one of the very first family movies ever made. 6/10

This film is also known as, Card Game (1896), Partie de Cartes (1896) and A Quiet Game of Écarté (1896). The Messers Lumière at Cards (1896), is a great pioneering film. The scene is clearly staged, because the film is considered the first alcoholic beverage commercial ever made. The main guy at the table, owned either a beer, wine or alcohol factory. He was very popular back then, so people seeing him pour and drink his beverage on film, was technically free advertising. To keep things in order, all of the film was staged, although the waiter does overact a little. Are these the first hired actors maybe? Probably not, but the idea is there and the seeds to narrative drama, begin to grow, in 1896. The Messers Lumière at Cards (1896), is a Lumiere classic, with their pioneering glow, once again, making cinematic discoveries, with every film they release.

9.3 (A MyGrade) = 9 IMDB.