Review #10: Le chaudron infernal (1903) - Short film

This one-minute short (known as The Infernal Boiling Pot) lacks on a story, of course, but the special effects are quite solid (for the time), and the color looks rather vivid, I feel. Pure entertainment from the early 1900's.

Source: YouTube

Length: 1 minute

Number of Ratings from IMDb: 613

Country of Origin: France

Director: Georges Méliès [Le manoir du diable, Le château hanté, Barbe-bleue, Le monstre, Le chaudron infernal, Les quatre cents farces du diable]

The plot is relatively simple: a few demons (I'm guessing) have captured some women. One of them is thrown into a pot (of infernal boiling properties), and the demon raises the heat on the poor woman.

I'd like to state at this moment that I think the special effects for the fire look extremely interesting. CGI has nothing on this kind of magic.

The process is repeated, and then the women come back as spectral figures. I cannot tell whether or not they are now doing the bidding of the demons, but the image is cool nonetheless.

Now, I do not know whether people would generally consider this horror or not. The fact of the matter is that so many of shorts produced before the 1930's where much like this. A bit jovial, amusing, and such. Le monstre, another short from 1903 by the same director, is much in the same light.

I consider it horror for the simple combination of demons throwing defenseless women into a pot of boiling water, then lighting it on fire. Talk about torturous. Perhaps it was just made to entertain, as most, if not all, of Méliès' work was made for. But it is gruesome, if actually thought about.

I am sure that the original version was not colored, but I've personally not seen a copy of this short that wasn't. That means very little, of course, but I just wanted to add that in.

This short is entertaining. It's fun. It's even a little spooky if you watch it without lights on. I'd recommend viewing this - really, what is there to lose?

My rating: 8/10

This movie is on IMDb, to be found here.

Next time, on Beyond the Darkened Door:

Though it is slightly overdo, I intend to finally post my first full-length review of a horror film from the mid-1940's, rated by less than 100 people. If that is not next, then expect another short, this one from a classic Poe story, predating a more famous French version, by one year.

Until then,

Michael