Turn-of-the-Century Surgery

Overview

George Mélies made a version of this a few years later, often titled Une Indigestion, but Guy-Blaché’s earlier film Chirurgie Fin de Siecle (1900) is more widely available. And it’s not one to watch the night before an operation. In this clinic, a sign pleads “On est prie de ne pas crier/Please do not cry”, and the doctors set about the patient with saws, cheerily hacking off limbs, and then slopping them into a bucket, all the while arguing ferociously with each other. They then reattach arms and legs from a bucket of “exchange pieces” (using glue) before re-animating their victim, I mean patient, with bellows. (from http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/01/23/10-disgusting-moments-in-silent-cinema/)

Details

Status

Released

Release date

January 1, 1900

Original language

French

Countries

France

Production

Gaumont,Société des Etablissements Gaumont (FR),L. Gaumont & Cie

Director

Alice Guy-Blaché

Budget

Not recorded

Revenue

Not recorded

IMDb

tt0000286