This piece of footage by Méliès, has a total run time of eight seconds, the last five of which are nothing more than a plain, blank, black screen. So this basically amounts to a three seconds-long short film featuring a heavilly bearded man (think ZZ Top, if they parted their beard straight down the middle) inhaling from a cigar, exhaling a thick cloud of obnoxious smoke, he goes all googley-eyes at the camera, the end. Thrilling.
It's not exactly a trial to sit through, nor can anyone say something stupid like "I want those eight seconds of my life back!", but this has to be the least inspired of Méliès work, causing one to wonder, what the hell was the point of this? Was there more footage showing more of Méliès usual trickery, adding a point to this short film, which has been lost for all time? Or was he really bored enough to film someone smoking a cigar for three seconds? Or was it Méliès, in disguise, having himself filmed while smoking a cigar, and for what reason? Even the most die hard Méliès fans will be puzzled by this one. I cannot even honestly give it a score from one to ten, because there is so little to it.
It's not exactly a trial to sit through, nor can anyone say something stupid like "I want those eight seconds of my life back!", but this has to be the least inspired of Méliès work, causing one to wonder, what the hell was the point of this? Was there more footage showing more of Méliès usual trickery, adding a point to this short film, which has been lost for all time? Or was he really bored enough to film someone smoking a cigar for three seconds? Or was it Méliès, in disguise, having himself filmed while smoking a cigar, and for what reason? Even the most die hard Méliès fans will be puzzled by this one. I cannot even honestly give it a score from one to ten, because there is so little to it.