The Broken Violin (1908 film)

The Broken Violin (French: Lully ou le Violon brisé) was a 1908 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1176–1185 in its catalogues, where it was advertised as "très artistique; spécial pour coloris; anecdote Louis XIV en 4 tableaux, avec ballet" ("very artistic; filmed specifically for hand-coloring; an anecdote from the reign of Louis XIV in four scenes, with a ballet").[1] Only a fragment of the film is known to survive; the rest is presumed lost.[1]

The Broken Violin
Directed byGeorges Méliès or Manuel
Production
company
CountryFrance
LanguageSilent

At least some of the film was shot outdoors, in the garden of the Méliès family property in Montreuil-sous-Bois.[1] From an analysis of the surviving fragment, a guide to Méliès's films from the Centre national de la cinématographie concludes that the film was probably not directed by Méliès himself but by his employee, an actor known as Manuel.[2]

The fragment shows a scene in a kitchen, where an assistant cook, the young Jean-Baptiste Lully, is berated for his tardiness. When alone, young Lully begins playing his violin, and the whole kitchen staff soon gather around him in delight at his playing. The joyful group is interrupted by a man in elaborate livery, who scolds Lully and sends him away. Another scene, of an elaborate room in Baroque style with a maidservant and an elegantly dressed lady, is briefly glimpsed at the end of the fragment.[1][3]

References
  1. Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 238, ISBN 9782732437323
  2. Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France, Bois d'Arcy: Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie, 1981, p. 312, ISBN 2903053073
  3. Méliès, Georges (2008), Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (DVD; short film collection), Los Angeles: Flicker Alley, ISBN 1893967352
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