CitizenCaine
This film, The Cake-Walk Infernal, is one of silent pioneer Georges Melies' most well known films. There isn't much of a story as much as a succession of images, which Melies energetically parades across the screen with his usual doses of interesting backdrops and costumed characters. At times, some of Melies' films can be overly stagy, and this is one such film. Some common motifs in Melies' films appear here as in characters or objects appearing, disappearing, and reappearing again, the use of smoke effects for transitions, the use of stop action motion, and Melies' appearance as a character with a devilish costume. **1/2 of 4 stars.
wes-connors
As a few female dancers flow back and forth, the curtain rises on a what looks like it could be Hell. Male demons arise and do an acrobatic dance, which includes some special effects fire from magical filmmaker George Melies. A leader devil appears, likely he is played by Mr. Melies. More dancers and special effects fire appear. Taking center stage for a spell is a dancing couple appearing in what looks like "blackface". Other dark-skinned beings appear, with big white eyes. More demons and special effects fire appear. Before the finale, the head devil has a solo dance, which shows off his ability to lose and regain his limbs.*** Le cake-walk infernal (6/13/03) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies
Michael_Elliott
Infernal Cake-Walk, The (1903) *** (out of 4) aka Le Cake-Walk InfernalOne of Melies best know films, this movie here takes place in Hell where various people and demons do a dance, which includes fire and magic. This here is certainly one of the director's catchiest films as it contains a rather wicked sense of humor as we see all these demons dancing around. The visual look of the film is very nice and the sets used are also very good. There's a great sequence with two demons fighting with fire and another great scene where a demon disappears from the screen. I wouldn't exactly call the dancing in the film good but it is catchy when mixed with everything else going on.
Snow Leopard
Although the original motivation behind this Georges Méliès feature was to spoof a popular dance craze of the day, it has so much of Méliès's wit and camera wizardry that it is still quite funny and entertaining today. This kind of popular culture parody is just one of the many genres to which Méliès applied his extraordinary imagination.The feature takes the "Cake-Walk" dance and uses it is the subject for a series of short dance numbers, some of which would almost look at home in an MGM musical, and others of which are enjoyably bizarre. The backgrounds are stage-like, but they usually contain plenty of interesting detail in themselves. Some of the sequences feature amusing sights without any camera tricks, while at other times Méliès demonstrates the special effects for which he was so well-known.There isn't really a story so much as a succession of images, which yet somehow seem connected by a strange logic all their own. There are so many unusual and skillful Méliès movies that it gets awkward to say of all of them that, "any fan of Méliès would enjoy this", but in this case it is once again true.
AD
