| The Tramp and the Mattress Makers | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
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Production company | |
Release date |
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| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
The Tramp and the Mattress Makers (French:La Cardeuse de matelas) is a 1906 Frenchshortsilentcomedy film byGeorges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès'sStar Film Company and is numbered 818–820 in its catalogues.[1]
In front of a shop, three mattress makers are busy sewing a mattress. When they go into a cheapwine bar for a break, a drunkentramp ambles onto the scene, and decides to take a nap inside the mattress. The workers come back and finish sewing up the mattress, not noticing the tramp sleeping inside it. Suddenly the tramp wakes up and tries to struggle out. Workers and passersby alike are startled to see what appears to be a living mattress tumbling and stumbling in the street.
The tramp, still completely inside the mattress, makes his way into the nearby wine bar. In the ensuing confusion, all the customers and bar staff run out, and a policeman rushes in to arrest the living mattress. When he stumbles into the policeman, the tramp finally manages to tear his way out of the mattress. Bar, mattress, and furniture alike all end up on top of the policeman. In a finalmedium shot, preceded by a trilingualintertitle ("À Votre Santé, Good Health, Prosit!!!"), the tramp pours himself a drink and toasts the audience.
The actors Manuel and Bruneval appear in the film as the tramp and the bald barman, respectively. The only special effect used is thesubstitution splice. The intertitle is lettered similarly to thetitle cards in two other films Méliès made that year,The Witch andSoap Bubbles. Méliès only rarely used titles within his films; in at least one example, the 1908 comedyFrench Cops Learning English, these took the form of placards held up within the film itself.[2]
The concluding medium shot is likewise a rare occurrence in Méliès's films, which are typically made up oflong shots. He later used similar concluding shots inThe Witch the same year, andHow Bridget's Lover Escaped the following year.[2]
