The Rescue on the River

The Rescue on the River (French: Sauvetage en rivière) was an 1896 short silent film directed by Georges Méliès.

The Rescue on the River
Directed by	Georges Méliès
Produced by	Georges Méliès
Based on	Up the River by Robert W. Paul
Production company	Star Film Company
Release date	May 1896
Country	France
Language	Silent

Production

The film was probably made in May 1896.[1] It was an imitation of Up the River, a short film made by the British film pioneer Robert W. Paul earlier in the same year.[2] The Rescue on the River was Méliès's first experiment with longer forms of cinema: it told a story across two distinct shots, instead of the one-shot format he had used previously. In so doing, it marked a first step away from the brief Lumière-inspired scenes and actuality films with which Méliès had begun his filmmaking career, and toward the more complex films for which he would become known.[1]

Release

The Rescue on the River was released by Méliès's Star Film Company in two parts, numbered 22 and 23, respectively, in the company catalogues. Each part was approximately 20 meters (65 feet) long.[3]

#	English title	French title
22	The Rescue on the River (1st part)	Sauvetage en rivière (1^re partie)
23	The Rescue on the River (2d part)	Sauvetage en rivière (2^e partie)

The Rescue on the River is currently presumed lost.[3]

References

1. Williams, Alan Larson (1992), Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 35
2. Lloyd, Ann; Robinson, David (1984), Movies of the Silent Years, London: Orbis, p. 13
3. Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 335

External links

• The Rescue on the River (1st part) at IMDb
• The Rescue on the River (2d part) at IMDb