Oh, forget the half-baked anti-war, mom-son melodrama revolving around a home and a barricade during the 1871 Commune uprising, "On the Barricade" is more interesting for how the shots are composed, framed--or barricaded. The name of the game in this production was clearly to make small spaces appear less confined. Paradoxically, this was achieved by confinement and cluttered layers, theatrically in the settings and cinematographically by the tight camera positioning and fluid continuity editing.
Not every film by Alice Guy and her production crew at Gaumont could be made on the order of their passion play "La Vie du Christ" (1906), after all. Reportedly, Guy nearly lost her job for that budgetary boondoggle, with its two-dozen-or-so robust sets and many more extras laying the foundation for an exploration of deep-focus photography. "On the Barricade," however, is almost as compelling, for its creation of space within far more limited confines. A backdrop seen through the door window of the mom and son's home (represented as one room) adds the illusion that there's a street setting behind what is surely a studio construction. The effect is furthered by exterior street views of the barricade and another shot of a militia rounding a fenced corner. The barricade set, too, is framed by the camera position at a tight side angle so as to not require much of a makeshift wall. Additionally, besides the eleven shots, there are four title cards, which were becoming increasingly common in films by then. "On the Barricade" may not be revolutionary, but it's quite resourceful.
