Dream of a Rarebit Fiend

To fully appreciate an old film and its contribution to cinema, one has to be fully educated in the technology of the times it was made. Hence, the appreciation of Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, created in 1906, is a leap in special effects that even the wizard of film effects, George Melies, must have enjoyed seeing at the time of its release.

Others on the board have given a concise history of the brains behinds this project--Edwin Porter, the Edison Manufacturing Company premier director, teamed up with cartoonist Winsor McCay, he of Little Nemo comic strip and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, to produce this 7-minute gem.

Comedian John "Jack" Brawn provides the pratfalls as he succumbs to an evenings' worth of nightmares after gorging on Welsh Rabit, a combination of melted cheese over toast. Porter's in-camera special effects forged new ground in trick photography that became imitated by others afterwards. His revolving film of backgrounds matted his foregrounds of Brawn and objects (like a light post and his bed) which served to mesmerize audiences when Rarebit first was released,

The movie was the most successful of Edisons' releases in 1906, where he sold almost 200 copies of Rabebit to nickelodeons and film exchanges that year, an almost unheard of number prints purchased in a single year up to that time.

Although Edwin S. Porter is well known as the director of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, the landmark short that combined a good story line, cross-editing and other remarkable techniques for its era, his role in American cinema history has largely been relegated to a footnote: Edison invents the motion picture camera, goes the hagiography, and Griffith comes along and perfected the story-telling of cinema. And, oh yeah, Porter directed this movie in 1902 that is actually all right.

But Porter was actually a wildly experimental cineaste. In more than 100 movies, he experimented with cross-cutting, story-telling, breaking the fourth wall -- remember at the end of THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY where the robber shoots a gun at the audience? -- and did lots of camera tricks, particularly here, where there are a couple of shots that have triple exposures.... and in an era when everything had to be done in the camera, using masks and stopwatches, he got some remarkable effects, which he used with great good humor.

This trick movie is based on Windsor McKay's DREAMS OF A RAREBIT FIEND series of cartoons. McKay did a series of cartoons based on it in the early 1920s, but this is pretty heady stuff for the era. It was Edison's blockbuster for 1906 -- they sold 192 copies of the film!

What an amazing cinematic experience! Just as Porter's influence was starting to wane, he makes what is arguably his most visually stunning film. Though not as famous as "Life of an American Fireman", Rarebit Fiend is a clever, captivating piece of film history.

The 'plot' as such is irrelevant - what the film does is take opportunities to showcase as many new special effects as it possibly can. Tricks of space, dimension, time, both in-camera and on set, create one of cinema's first convincing nightmare perspectives. Predating the surrealist era by decades, Porter's film is a must see for all fans of non-linear and non-traditional film-making.

Famous fantasy short with a moral: a man spends a night stuffing himself with food and drink in a restaurant; stumbling his way home, he sees the buildings 'dancing' around him and, on arriving, things only get worse. The bed starts to shake violently as if possessed and even throws itself, with the man still tucked in, through the window (the film's single funniest bit)! Flying around town a' la Scrooge, he's sure to have learnt his lesson by the next morning.

As far as I know, the only other Porter film I've watched is THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903), celebrated for being the first Western; this one, then, contains a number of crude camera tricks in the contemporary style of Frenchman Georges Melies. Incidentally (and Michael Elliott is sure to raise an eyebrow or two at this!), in spite of their undeniable historical value, I can't bring myself to appreciate such primitive stuff other than as mere curiosities…

After sloppily overindulging in 'Welsh rarebit' and wine, the titular 'fiend' (Jack Brawn) staggers home only to experience devilish headaches and horrifying dreams. This ancient silent comedy, directed and filmed by Edison men Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter, was inspired by one of a series of eponymous 1904 comic strips drawn by Winsor McCay that featured the dire consequences of overconsumption of the 'beer, bread and cheese' concoction. The short is full of imaginative special effects that, although primitive by modern standards, were quite sophisticated at the time, including miniatures, stop-motion, double-exposures, mattes, and other assorted camera tricks. The overall effect is quite well-done and humorous, especially when the fiend experiences the dreaded 'bed-spins'.