Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Slapstick Summer Series: Passing the Torch | The Race for the Sausage (1907)

The similarities to The Policemen's Little Run, released earlier the same year, are obvious. Each have their own merits and choosing one over the other ultimately comes down to personal preference.

More significant than the movie itself are the circumstances revolving at the time around the film's production company, Gaumontand co-Directors, Alice Guy and Louis Feuillade. Guy, serving as Gaumont's Artistic Director since 1896, first bought scripts from Feuillade beginning in 1905, and then finally convinced him to give directing a shot as well.

Still, most of the Gaumont films from this period, such as The Race for the Sausage, were either explicitly directed or closely supervised by Guy. In preparation for her upcoming move to the United Stated to serve as Production Manager for Gaumont's New York operations -- and to be with new husband, Herbert Blaché -- Guy was also molding her successor. When the time came for her to bid France a farewell, she suggested Feuillade as her replacement. By late 1907, Guy-Blaché was living on a different continent, and Feuillade was Gaumont's new Artistic Director.



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