Le château hanté

2/21/2017

In 1897, George Albert Smith decided to remake a historic film that came out the year before it. Smith wanted to remake Méliès’ Le Manoir Du Diable. A short film from 1896 that showed a young man being tormented in an old castle. The short that Smith produced is shorter than Méliès. Le Manoir runs at about three minuets, where Smiths british produced The Haunted Castle clocks in at only one minuet and one second. However, Smiths version kicks right off with the “Action” jumping right into action with our hero being tormented by the nocturnal naughtiness. The general feel of this short(er) is actually more complete than its predecessor. It looks as if George Albert Smith took everything that was good about Le Manoir and shoved it into this short(er). You are closer to the action this