| Sightseeing Through Whisky | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Georges Méliès or Manuel |
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Production company | |
Release date |
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| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
Sightseeing Through Whisky (French:Pauvre John ou les Aventures d'un buveur de whisky) is a 1907 Frenchsilenttrick film credited toGeorges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès'sStar Film Company and is numbered 1000–1004 in its catalogues.[1]
A large group of tourists, complete with guidebooks,pith helmets, and a tour guide, arrive at a rocky landscape dominated by a ruined temple. One of the tourists, tired from the sightseeing, lies down on a rock and goes to sleep. A drunken footman, carrying the sightseers' luggage, lags behind the group. As they move on, he sits down and starts drinking extensively from a bottle found among the luggage.
As the footman collapses in a drunken stupor, a figure in Ancient Grecian or Roman robes appears and demands the frightened footman's attention. The robed figure summons up various visions: women in classical drapery, posing intableaux; an ancient festival with dancingBacchantes;Dionysus himself, riding a donkey; a fountain of fire; and a final tableau of women, one of whom lies down near the footman.
The footman is showering her with kisses when his hallucination comes to a sudden end, and he realizes he is embracing the tired tourist. Incensed, she fights him off, and a group of the other tourists drag the drunken footman away.
The film features two frequent collaborators of Méliès's:Fernande Albany as the tired tourist, and Manuel as the footman, who is identified in the film's French title as John. The special effects are created withsubstitution splices andpyrotechnics; the editing is not up to Méliès's usual standard, with the various transformations managed less fluidly than is typical for his films.[2] A guide to Méliès's work, published by theCentre national de la cinématographie, concluded that the film was probably supervised not by Méliès but by the actor Manuel.[2]
