The X-Ray Fiend

There really isn't enough to say for a review, si ce its only 45 seconds long, but its definitely worth watching. The skeleton costumes were pretty amusing.

Although almost completely forgotten today, George A. Smith was quite possibly the key individual for the development of modern film grammar. This title is usually reserved for D.W. Griffith, but most of the grammar of cutting and camera placement were developed by Mr. Smith -- Griffith regularized the grammar, a major point, and made some brilliant films. However, Mr. Smith had largely left such issues behind by that point, being more interested in developing Kinemacolor, probably the first successful natural movie film color system. Then along came Dr. Kalmus with Technicolor, and there is something else that Smith isn't remembered for. Ay wheel.

As for this short subject, it is a racy one for 1897, showing a couple sparking, when along comes a man with an X-Ray machine. One zap and suddenly we are looking at a couple of intertwined skeletons and umbrella ribs.

For 1897 this is moderately advanced, even though Melies was doing such things regularly. And the camera cut that produces the effect is not intended as a grammatical punctuation, but more on the order of a scientific magic trick. It wouldn't be until the following year that we would see a clearly developing film grammar out of Mr. Smith....

'The X-Ray Fiend' is a very short film produced and directed by the Victorian showman George Albert Smith. This is a 'trick' film: one of many such films made before 1910, inspired by the movies of Georges Melies, in which the very thin plot of the film is merely a vehicle for trick photography. 'The X-Ray Fiend' is more interesting than most other films of this genre, because it deals with a recent scientific discovery. Wilhelm Roengten had discovered x-rays in November 1895 (about sixteen months before this movie was made): 'The X-Ray Fiend' deals satirically with Roentgen's discovery at a time when it was still new and miraculous.

In this short film, a young couple are embracing: this by itself was a fairly strong image for the sedate filmgoers of 1897. They are so rapt in each other's attentions that they fail to notice a bizarre-looking professor who arrives, toting a weird apparatus which he aims at them. This turns out to be an x-ray projector. When the professor switches it on, the outer bodies of the man and woman turn invisible, and now we see their skeletons. The two skeletons are still embracing, blissfully unaware of their transformation.

It would have been more interesting if the x-ray projector had worked more gradually, so that we first see the couple's clothing fading away to reveal their naked bodies underneath ... followed by the fading of their flesh to reveal their musculature, and only then skeletonising them. No such luck.

This is a crude film, with trickery that is very obvious from our modern standpoint, but it has some historical value, and it's so bizarre that it still retains some humour. I'll rate this movie 4 points out of 10.

This very early film by British auteur George Albert Smith is essentially a single 44 second 'joke': a courting couple are exposed to X-rays, but love prevails as their skeletons continue to cavort until the gentleman goes a titch to far, prompting his lady-friend, now restored to natural opaqueness, to get up and leave (after delivering a mild slap of indignation). The film is a whimsical bit of cinema history, playing on the public fascination with X-rays, which had only been discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen two years prior and showcasing Smith's 'state of the art' special effects (nicely executed jump cuts). The film is a product of its Victorian times as the 'leg bones' of the skeletonised women are demurely painted on her dress rather than on her *gasp* legs. Try to watch with the eyes of a 19th century viewer and imagine their astonishment as the lovebirds suddenly become skeletons.

X-Ray Fiend, The (1897)

*** (out of 4)

Forgotten sci-fi/comedy about a man and woman who are flirting with one another when another man comes up to them with an x-ray machine, zaps them and turns them into skeletons. This "trick" movie was clearly influenced by the work of Georges Melies but it still has enough charm to make it worth viewing. The interesting thing about this film is that it features x-rays not too long after they were actually discovered so we have a very early "idea" of what they are and how to use them. Obviously the way they're used here makes the film science fiction but at the same time it's a fun idea and one that makes for some good entertainment. At only 45-seconds the film doesn't last too long so don't expect any type of long-running story. Instead, we get a simple joke but the effects are nicely done and in the end this is certainly worth watching (on YouTube of course).