La cardeuse de matelas

Some workers are producing turn of the century mattresses. They are in the process of stuffing a mattress when they decide to get some liquid refreshments. Along comes a drunk who decides to crawl inside the mattress. When they return, they start to sew him up inside and his is stuck with a big needled. He jumps up and the mattress appears to have come to life. He now terrifies the people around him. He enters the bar and scares those people off. We also have a long closeup of the guy, drinking and mugging for the camera. There are a couple cute moments.

"The Tramp and the Mattress Maker" begins with the mattress maker and his assistants working on making another bed. They take break and then a stereotypical drunk comes upon their pile of stuffing and the mattress and his climbs inside. I have no idea WHY anyone would do this. When they return to work, the poor guy is stitched inside and soon the mattress seems to come to life!

This is a comedy from French filmmaker Georges Méliès and although the idea is completely absurd, it is funny in a dopey sort of way. Worth a look if you are a fan of the filmmaker of if you would like a small laugh.

A tramp crawls into a mattress that is being made to get warm and is sewn into it. When he wakes suddenly, he scares the bejasus out of everyone.

Although this slapstick effort is one of Melies' weaker movies, there are a couple of interesting points: first, the cutting definitely uses Magic lantern grammar, as we see the enmattressed tramp leave the street and enter a bar. There is a cut to the interior of the bar and it is several seconds before the lively mattress enters. This is typical of magic lantern pieces and was already being superseded in movies, since the effect is too slow for the anticipation of the audience. Second, there is a title card near the end -- still something of a novelty -- followed by a shot of the tramp, something typical for the slapstick efforts that Pathe would become known for starting the following year.

This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.

Tramp And The Mattress Makers, The (1906)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka La Cardeuse de matelas

This four-minute film has some slapstick as a drunken tramp is walking down the street just as some mattress workers are going on their lunch break. The tramp sees the mattress as a nice place to lay and falls asleep only to be trapped inside when the workers return and sew the mattress up. When he awakes he gives everyone a good scare. The actual "scare" really isn't all that funny and that's the main reason this film doesn't work but it does remain pretty interesting in terms of Melies career because there's actually an edit to a different setting, which isn't normal for his work up to this point. Normally all of Melies films, outside the epic ones, took place in one setting so it's interesting to see him expanding things a little. The payoff for the tramp on the second setting is a nice little joke and certainly works better than the street scene.