A Love Tragedy in Spain
| A Love Tragedy in Spain | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 605 feet (approx. 8.5 minutes)[1] |
| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
A Love Tragedy in Spain (French: Rivalité d'amour) was a 1908 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès.
Plot
A Spanish dancer, in front of an inn in the Spanish mountains, is courted by a smuggler, who asks her to marry him. She agrees. Later, in the dancer's room, another man enters and declares his love for her. The smuggler, entering unnoticed, hears the declaration of love, and a violent argument breaks out between the two rivals for the dancer's affection. The suitors travel to a remote spot in the mountains and fight to the death; the smuggler wins the fight when the other suitor falls over a precipice. Returning to the dancer's room, the smuggler comes to meet his beloved, but the dancer refuses him when she finds out he killed his rival. The smuggler stabs himself in despair. The dancer, running to his corpse, touches his hands, and is repulsed to find them covered with blood.[2]
Release
The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1191–1198 in its catalogues, where it was advertised as a grande scène dramatique catalane.[3] A synopsis in the The Motion Picture World described the film as "a thrilling episode in the style of Bizet's Carmen."[2]
A Love Tragedy in Spain is currently presumed lost.[3]
References
- ↑ Malthête, Jacques (October 1982), "Sur les traces des 'Star' Films disparus", Les dossiers de la cinémathèque, 10, pp. 52–67
- 1 2 "Stories of the Films", The Moving Picture World, 3 (17), p. 345, 24 October 1908
- 1 2 Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 240, ISBN 9782732437323