La Charcuterie mécanique

The Mechanical Butcher (1895)

*** (out of 4)

Louis Lumiere directed this rather clever film that has a butcher putting a large pig into a magical box where when he opens the other side, he pulls out all sorts of pork and sausage links. THE MECHANICAL BUTCHER is called the first science fiction film by a lot of people but I'd say it's more of a trick film than anything else. I reckon you could get away with calling it sci-fi but I think you're really pushing for that. With that said, there's no doubt that this is quite entertaining and you can't help but smile and laugh at the various types of pork that gets pulled out of the box. At just 40 seconds this was obviously shot in one take and you have to wonder if this was it or were there outtakes or other issues that happened.

According to several sources (including IMDB) this is the first sci-fi film. Well, I don't consider it that...it seems more like comedy or fantasy.

Like all films from 1895 or thereabouts, the film is very, very short. During this era, most films were 30-120 seconds long...that's it. And, lengthy narratives simply were not even considered.

In this film, you see a giant contraption and a pig is led into it. The folks begin turning a crank and out comes sausages and other cuts of pork. That's it...nothing more to it.

There was another film made not too long after this that expanded the idea much more...and used dogs instead of pigs. It was much better...but it wasn't first...though I can't see an sci-fi about either one.

In Phil Hardy's encyclopedia of science fiction films, this 50-second movie by Lumière was celebrated as the first science fiction film ever. Why not? It is the first time there was given a cinematic form for fear of technology. Here the theme is dealed with humour. There is a big box with circulaw saw in it. A pig is put in and it comes out as sausages and other kind of meat products.

Of course, you can't seriously talk about science fiction films as a genre before the 50's, but "La charcuterie mécanique" has certainly a scifi-angle in it.

Anyway, this is the funniest film by Lumière I have seen, and least dated of his fictitious subjects.

This film can also be found in its original French title, La Charcuterie mécanique (1895). This is another extra Lumière film, produced in 1895, that probably didn't get shown to a paying audience until 1896. It probably kept the 1895 tag, because it was shown to a test audience that year. The Mechanical Butcher (1895), does harbor close to being the first science fiction film ever made (at least in futuristic terms), when a pig is turned into all the known sections of prepared meat, found at your local meat market, sliced to perfection, complete with some of the wrappings. Think Star Trek food replicator. The Mechanical Butcher (1895), was an odd choice of a subject, for being one of the first movies ever made. It must have been a stage act, that the Lumiere brothers decided to film. Looking at it from a 21st century perspective, it looks odd, but maybe made more sense to audiences in 1895. It was still a history making moment and only 43 seconds long.

6.9 (C MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.

A machine is demonstrated that supposedly instantly turns pig into pork at the turn of a wheel. The film, created by the pioneering Lumière Brothers, is about an imaginary 'technology' but there are no 'special effects'. Calling this ancient one-joke short the first science fiction film, as some do, is a bit of a stretch, but as there is no obvious 'first' for the genre, this is as likely as any of the contenders. The film spawned a number of knockoffs in which various animals are turned into sausages. As there were rumours that such things were happening, these films may have been meant as satire as well as entertainment. Ironically, the 'la charcuterie mécanique' foreshadowed modern meat-product production facilities, which involve considerably less 'hands-on' work than 19th century butchers could have imagined.