Le cake-walk infernal

The summary was NOT meant to be negative--it is a true description of what seems to be happening in this pleasant but not especially remarkable film by that genius of silent cinema, Georges Méliès.

The film was made on a set with sliding backdrops. They are painted up to look like a cave--I assume this is meant to be Hell inside the Earth. And into this cave appear a wide variety of ladies dancing can-can style as well as the Devil himself. It all seems very random--with various characters appearing and disappearing without much story line or reason. Because there is no apparent theme, it all looks like a talent show, of sorts, and is among the poorer films I've seen by Méliès.

Having said this, poor Méliès is still great film work when compared to his contemporaries--even those who were deliberately copying his style and camera tricks. The randomness and ordinariness don't mean this isn't entertaining--but it sure could have used a theme to give it a sense of purpose other than to say "life here in Hell is pretty cool--come join the party"!

'The Infernal Cakewalk (1903)' is, essentially, an energetic interpretive dance with some special effects thrown in every now and then. Its story is virtually non-existent (or, at least, it doesn't come across all that well) and it's honestly rather underwhelming overall, even when one considers its age. The piece is apparently based around some sort of well-known dance slave owners made their slaves do for their amusement, which is certainly a disturbing prospect and perhaps isn't something that should be engrained in film history (the flick's use of what appears to be blackface doesn't help, either). The only thing of note here, aside from the energy of the dancers who move manically without seeming to break a sweat, is the occasionally impressive special effects. They're pretty cool for their time and give the affair some of its most memorable moments. Overall, though, I wouldn't say this is essential viewing. It's fine for what it is, but it isn't particularly good as a whole. 5/10.

Melies made hundreds upon hundreds of short films; some of them masterpiece,s others mediocre, many falling somewhere in between. It can be proposed that "The Cake-Walk Infernal" is among his better known works (that is casting aside legendary films like "A Trip to the Moon", "The Voyage Across the Impossible ", or even "The Merry Frolics of Satan"), mainly because of Martin Scorsese's recommendation of it for aspiring filmmakers/film students. This film is just simple, classic Melies with an extra dose of weird. It mostly consists of a parodic version of a dance that seems to have been popular at the time of the film's release; it takes place in Hell, despite the merry mood, and Melies himself plays a reasonably athletic Satan. The visual effects here are quite phenomenal, particularly for 1903 (!), and the sets, while sort of cheesy, are charming and appealing to the eye. There are also plenty of laughs to be had, mainly because of Melies' comic and over the top performance and the trick photography that soon ensues. Those that are rather familiar with Melies and his style will likely be able to appreciate this for what it is: another unique and wild entry in the vast Melies cannon.

Although the original motivation behind this Georges Méliès feature was to spoof a popular dance craze of the day, it has so much of Méliès's wit and camera wizardry that it is still quite funny and entertaining today. This kind of popular culture parody is just one of the many genres to which Méliès applied his extraordinary imagination.

The feature takes the "Cake-Walk" dance and uses it is the subject for a series of short dance numbers, some of which would almost look at home in an MGM musical, and others of which are enjoyably bizarre. The backgrounds are stage-like, but they usually contain plenty of interesting detail in themselves. Some of the sequences feature amusing sights without any camera tricks, while at other times Méliès demonstrates the special effects for which he was so well-known.

There isn't really a story so much as a succession of images, which yet somehow seem connected by a strange logic all their own. There are so many unusual and skillful Méliès movies that it gets awkward to say of all of them that, "any fan of Méliès would enjoy this", but in this case it is once again true.

Infernal Cake-Walk, The (1903)

*** (out of 4)

aka Le Cake-Walk Infernal

One of Melies best know films, this movie here takes place in Hell where various people and demons do a dance, which includes fire and magic. This here is certainly one of the director's catchiest films as it contains a rather wicked sense of humor as we see all these demons dancing around. The visual look of the film is very nice and the sets used are also very good. There's a great sequence with two demons fighting with fire and another great scene where a demon disappears from the screen. I wouldn't exactly call the dancing in the film good but it is catchy when mixed with everything else going on.