User Reviews

This Segundo de Chomon film, is essentially a genre picture -- the sort of stage/film magic hybrid that Georges Melies had pioneered. Technically, it is excellent, with greater production values, a more elaborate set design and stenciled color that Pathe and Gaumont excelled in.

However, it lacks one major thing that Melies gave his films: a love of performance. Melies performed in these films, and his stage craft and vivacity helped to make them far more exciting than his competitors' efforts. The result here is good, very good indeed, but it's not a patch on Melies.

It's not surprising that this short film was directed by Segundo de Chomón as it bears three of his trademarks---the copying of the style and tricks of Georges Méliès and Segundo's fascination with Asian characters (though they were actually French folks in stereotypically Japanese outfits and wigs) as well as butterflies. It is enjoyable but pales in comparison with his brilliant "Kiri-Kis"--a film you absolutely must see if you love early silent films.

In this film, a 'Japanese' man appears along with two 'Japanese' kids and a 'Japanese' lady. They dance about, he performs some nice magic (including some fire) and it has some innovative spinning umbrellas. Following this, you get to see some butterflies appear--but they are REALLY Lame, as you can see the stagehands dressed all in black (like magicians' hidden assistants) manipulating the fake butterflies. Then, he and two female assistants draw leaves and a caterpillar with chalk and then it becomes real (thanks to the director stopping the camera and inserting the prop caterpillar). Then, using a dissolve it becomes a cocoon and then a giant butterfly. A HUGE amount of the final portion consists of the insect vibrating its wings as colors appear (they were hand-painted on the film stock using stencils) and finally, it becomes a woman butterfly.

While some of the effects were quite nice for 1908, the execution was inconsistent. And, ultimately, the film seemed to drag a bit towards the end. Well done overall but not one of the director's best.

For 1908, "Japanese Butterflies" is not among the very best and most innovative works of Pathé director Segundo de Chomón. Because of the fact the director released some of his most elaborately structured trick films that same year, with such works as "The Scullion's Dream", "The House of Ghosts" (sometimes inaccurately labelled as being from 1907), and in particular "The Electric Hotel", one might expect a more interesting and inventive setup for this film. Here, Chomón once again borrows the basic concept of a stage magic act--realized with special effects--off of his competition Georges Méliès, who by now was delving into slapstick comedies and melodramas in an attempt to catch up with the times. Because he was no doubt still selling prints of his movies, despite not making any new ones, Chomón here was obviously trying to bring an end to this market his competition had by rivaling him in producing better efforts.

However, just how much were these films being watched anymore? Why was the Spaniard trying to outdo something that was already quite old by this point? Only God knows. Chomón had entered the filmmaking business altogether too late to be of any huge significance, and he has largely been forgotten because of this. Audiences had gotten tired of gimmicks and were looking for more stories in films; by 1908 trick films like this were an outdated fad no one cared to invest in. While Chomón indeed had some unrecognized importance in how he brought these magic films up to date by incorporating closeups and stop-motion animation, this film surprisingly shows nearly none of that more innovative style that he was pioneering the same year. Thus, while this short has some good illusions and lovely stencil-coloring, it's safe to say that because of the most stagy feel to it, "Japanese Butterflies" was probably not a huge success.

The film, as another reviewer has pointed out, uses a motif of the director's which appeared in several other shorts from around that time: Oriental folk, particularly Japanese/Chinese. In it, a magician makes an assistant of his appear before wrapping her in tarp and setting her on fire--a trick seen in Chomón's film "The Red Specter" from the year before. A variety of other gimmicks also occur, such as some floating umbrellas and, predictably, butterflies. The highlight that makes the film is the end, where the director does bring it slightly up-to-date by cutting to a medium closeup to show a caterpillar being drawn on the chalkboard, which climbs in a cocoon and transforms into a butterfly. The color of the film is especially exercised at the end, where said butterfly changes colors, transforms into an actress with butterfly wings, and finally a serpentine dancer performing--which brings back some nostalgia for the popular dance movies of the 1890s.

The ending is apparently missing, since according to the Moving Picture World Synopsis it originally ended showing butterflies rising to Heaven. On top of that, there appears to have been more setup at the beginning of the film that's also unavailable, since the short begins right in the middle of some action. (I have no way of evidencing this claim). Watchable and entertaining but not among the best of Chomón's output.