Name: Les patineurs
Genre: Short
Duration: 7 min
Rating: 5.3
Cast: Fernande Albany, Bruneval, Charles Claudel

Not one of Georges Méliès' best...in fact, it just might be his worst!

Normally, I really enjoy watching films by Georges Méliès. He was a genius whose early films really brought a lot of wonderful innovations to pictures. That being said, "Les Patineurs" is a terrible film...one of his worst. There are two main reasons---parts of the film SHOULD have been re-shot and the story is so broad and overdone that it's almost embarrassing to watch.

The story begins with a bunch of rich folks watching a roller skating demonstration. As they leave, someone is selling roller skates...and the rich folks buy them. Once they put on the skates, however, instead of effortlessly skating about like the couple in the demonstration, they fall and break EVERYTHING around them. The police soon arrest everyone (why??) and the cops try out the skates for themselves...and hilarity ensues...or at least it should have.

During the unfunny scene where the rich folks don skates, things get knocked around and smashed. But it really wasn't filmed well, as you could see the paper background ALSO being knocked about! And, the rest of it just isn't funny and has zero subtlety....none whatsoever. A rare misstep for the master filmmaker.

By the way, if you do watch it, what's with the guy who is dressed in a fat suit to make him look like a giant beachball?! And, what's with the grotesque make-up and wig on him and a few other of the rich folks?!

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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