This is one of the most unusual films I’ve watched to this point in the chronology. It’s a strange mix of dream sequences and fantasies, directed by Yevgeny Bauer. It’s a Russian film, and gave me a glimpse into what was happening cinematically outside the U.S. in 1915. It is definitely different than most of the American films I’ve watched. The only one so far that’s been similar is The Avenging Conscience, D.W. Griffith’s 1914 foray into the nascent horror genre.
I’ve seen dream sequences in previous films, and some fantasy elements, but After Death pushes the boundary on what I’ve seen so far. The entire film is a back and forth between events happening to the characters and dream sequences. The plot is incredibly simple. A studious young man is taken to party where he sees a woman that he finds pretty. Soon thereafter he sees her sing onstage, after which he receives a latter from her asking him to meet her in a park. They meet, and have a very awkward and puzzling exchange. She tells him she has a lot to say to him. He responds that he’s ready to listen, but is surprised by the situation because he lives a scholar’s secluded life. She say she made a mistake and runs away.
Three months later, he finds out she committed suicide. He visits her family, and reads her suicide note, saying she killed herself out of unrequited love. He’s now wracked with guilt, because he also loved her but was too shy to let her know. He spends the rest of the film having numerous spooky dreams and visions of her ghost visiting him. He grows ill and is bedridden, still dreaming. The film ends with him dying in his mother’s arms after one last visit from the girl’s ghost.
As a realistic depiction of human behavior the film falls flat, but for the visuals it presents it is a stunning success. The dreams and ghostly visits are quite innovative and unsettling, and it’s there that the film earns its admission price.
As this is the 50th film I’ve watched as a part of this podcast so far, and I haven’t much more to say about it, I thought it might be fun to look at what I’ve watched so far. You know, metrics. The internet loves metrics!
First, let’s break it down by year.
1899 - 1 film
1900 - 1 film
1901 - 1 film
1902 - 2 films
1903 - 3 films
1904 - 1 film
1905 - 1 film
1906 - 3 films
1907 - no films from this year
1908- 2 films
1909- 4 films
1910- 1 film
1911- 1 film
1912- 6 films
1913- 2 films
1914- 8 films
1915- 15 films (13 covered so far)
What happened in 1907? How did I not find anything to watch from that year?
I should mention that what I’m doing, or at least the way I’m doing it, is not an exact science. I’m learning a lot as go along, so I may well have missed some must-sees from past years. I’d love to hear from those of you with more knowledge on this topic than me about what I may have missed, or what I should be sure to watch in the future.
Next, let’s examine how am I watching these movies. The answer in general is projected onto a big screen in a room in my house dedicated to watching films, but as for the source, it breaks down like this:
20 on YouTube
16 on Blu-ray
13 on DVD
1 on Prime
Finally, let’s look by director. Here’s whose films I’ve so far seen:
14 films by Georges Méliès
9 films by D.W. Griffith
3 films by James Kirkwood
2 films by Edwin S. Porter
2 films by Henry Lehrman
and 1 film each from the following directors or teams of directors:
Gilbert M. Anderson
Reginald Barker
Reginald Barker and Thomas H. Ince
Yevgeny Bauer
Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Giuseppe de Liguoro
August Blom
Romeo Bosetti
Charles Chaplin
William H. Clifford and William S. Hart
John H. Collins
Cecil B. DeMille
Edwin Middleton
Mabel Normand
Giovanni Pastrone
Frank Powell
Mack Sennett
Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
Wladyslaw Starewicz
Raoul Walsh
W.W. Young
So there you go. 50 movies down, about 2500 to go.
Next I’m watching The Golden Chance [1915], directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
After Death (Dec. 29, 1915)