Little Red Riding Hood

This film version of the Perrault fairy tale was originally part of the ninth of twelve Conquest Films' programs of films, featuring KIDNAPPED. With the falling off of the Patents Trust companies, it was one of the last attempts to control the exhibition market. Instead of the local exhibitor having to wrangle with the distributor to make a selection of which features and shorts to offer the audience, simply choose Edison's prestige package! It didn't work and by the end of the following year, Edison had left production. Recently this film and the others in the program have been issued on dvd by Fritzi Kramer with scores by Ben Model. Copies went to more than 300 people who helped fund the project by Kickstarter; I hope it will be made available for more general sale shortly.

This version is unusual in that it is offered as a shadow play. Fans of old movies will be familiar with the form mostly through the works of Lotte Reiniger. Shadow plays are an old form dating back thousands of years, almost always involving silhouettes or puppets. This one is unusual in that the characters are played by people -- the wolf seems to be in a woolly costume. The result is an unusual and charming telling of the tale that should please those who are interested in the odd bypaths of cinema.