La Danse du feu

The film "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" (often just called "The Serpentine Dance") was one of the earliest sensations when it debuted back in 1895. This dance was a huge sensation on stage and once filmed, folks poured into theaters to see it. And, like most early films that were successful, other filmmakers stole the idea liberally. In fact, some would even take the original film and claim it was theirs! The problem was so rampant (and practically everyone was doing it) that American Biograph put a watermark on their films...a giant AB in the bottom corner...in order to prevent others from saying the film was created by them!

The problem of theft was so bad that the innovative filmmaker Georges Méliès even resorted to stealing, I mean 'borrowing', the idea! This is rather ironic as he was one of the most copied and stolen from filmmakers of his day and many of his films were copied by Edison as well as his most famous copycat, Segundo de Chomón....and many of their films are indistinguishable from the work of Méliès...though more often than not, the work wasn't quite as good as the French master filmmaker's.

Here in "La Colonne de Feu", Méliès takes the Serpentine Dance and makes it his own. Like at least a hundred other films by Méliès, this one begins with a magician or conjurer working at his craft...with a giant frying pan this time. After a little hocus pocus, the Serpentine Dancer appears and begins her weird but mesmerizing dance....a dance you just need to see to appreciate. Well worth seeing...but clearly a rip-off!

The film is obviously painted. With no color film, each frame had to be colored. The beginning moment is quite striking. A devilish figure appears and creates an angelic female who begins to dance. She swirls her wispy clothing and actually makes the aforementioned pillar of fire. It is quite striking to watch. Another thoughtful venture.

As several reviewers have described before, Méliès... well, "borrowed" the idea of the serpentine dance from Dickson, and added his trademark goofy (yet awesome) Devil to it. It kinda works ... but mostly not. I'd rather watch Satan jump around a bit more, because let's be honest, it's an inexhaustible source of fun. He is more than capable to light a pillar of fire, there's no need to involve some random conjured woman in the process! Overall, a sloppy copy of a well-known original, clearly an error in the otherwise exceptional legacy.

By 1899, the Serpentine Dance had established itself as a staple of the cinematic arts, and one might assume there was little more one could do with the concept. Georges Melies, on the other hand, was all about creativity, and he contributed to the improvement of the base concept by turning it into a narrative. Melies transforms the flowing movements of the Serpentine gown into flickering tongues of flame, alluding to a scene from H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel, She: A History of Adventure. The demonic production design and the opening devil contribute to the proceedings' mysticism and exoticism, as the whole thing transforms into an enchanting visage. Despite this, the film as a whole is rather lacking. A fanciful display of a tired conceit is still a tired conceit, and the film's various filigree does little to save it from being an intriguing visual experience with little substance.

There is no real idea here. A woman is conjured and flails around. It feels five minutes long even though it's so short. Skippable!