He_who_lurks
Louis Lumiere, the director of this roughly 45 second short, was more known for his actuality films with which he began his career--street scenes, babies being fed, trains arriving, etc. But, and this is one of those exceptions, sometimes Lumiere would turn out a comedy or one-gag film that was a bit of a step up from his old material. "The Mechanical Butcher" is believed to be THE first Sci-Fi film ever in film history. I could see why they say that, too--primitive, but nonetheless a Science Fiction topic.A fat old hog is shoved into a box with a wheel operating it. After a couple secs, the other side comes open, and out comes what's left of the pig--pork products, all ready for people to eat. With a final burst of steam the film ends. For a Lumiere movie, it's about as fictitious as they got. And despite it's age, it's actually a lot more enjoyable to watch today then most of their other movies.
Michael_Elliott
The Mechanical Butcher (1895)*** (out of 4)Louis Lumiere directed this rather clever film that has a butcher putting a large pig into a magical box where when he opens the other side, he pulls out all sorts of pork and sausage links. THE MECHANICAL BUTCHER is called the first science fiction film by a lot of people but I'd say it's more of a trick film than anything else. I reckon you could get away with calling it sci-fi but I think you're really pushing for that. With that said, there's no doubt that this is quite entertaining and you can't help but smile and laugh at the various types of pork that gets pulled out of the box. At just 40 seconds this was obviously shot in one take and you have to wonder if this was it or were there outtakes or other issues that happened.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
While I don't approve of the killing of any animal for reasons to eat it, I have to say that this short film had quite some wit. A pig is lead to a mysterious box, forced in there and at the other side of the box, another person gets out a whole bunch of sausages, meat specialties and more porky results of slaughtering the animal. It's a bit of a magic trick as we, almost 120 years later, still have no mechanisms that work so efficiently and quickly in the food industry. The steam coming out of the machine adds nicely to the atmosphere of the short film and as whole I recommend it to silent film enthusiasts, at least the non-vegetarians among these.
petteri-kalliomaki
In Phil Hardy's encyclopedia of science fiction films, this 50-second movie by Lumière was celebrated as the first science fiction film ever. Why not? It is the first time there was given a cinematic form for fear of technology. Here the theme is dealed with humour. There is a big box with circulaw saw in it. A pig is put in and it comes out as sausages and other kind of meat products.Of course, you can't seriously talk about science fiction films as a genre before the 50's, but "La charcuterie mécanique" has certainly a scifi-angle in it.Anyway, this is the funniest film by Lumière I have seen, and least dated of his fictitious subjects.
AD
