Temptation of St. Anthony
1900
Alternative Titles
N/ABFI identifier
22844For further information on how to access the film and associated materials, check the Notes on the Print under the Technical tab.
Synopsis
TRICK - stop-action. St Anthony sits reading at a desk, on which a skull is visible. A young woman wearing a skin-coloured body suit appears before him. Overcome by temptation he approaches her, but she sidles away and changes into a skeleton. St Anthony collapses on the floor. (13ft) (16mm) (Shotlist)
- Production Country: USA
- Production Company: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
- BFI Category: Fiction
- Source: N/A
Cast
N/ACredits
Production Company: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
Director of Photography: Arthur Marvin
Film Technical Information
- Original Length: N/A
- Length of BFI Viewing Print: 62 ft
- Support: Non-Viewable Master
- Black and White
- Format: 35 mm , 16 mm
Comments on the print:
Currently the viewing copy listed in the BFI catalogue is actually of the Méliès version of the Temptation of St Anthony. The project is looking into the possibility of scanning a negative of the Mutoscope version to make it available for viewing on this website.
Details from the American Film Institute Catalog:
The Biograph catalog summarized this film as follows: "Another stunning subject, splendidly worked out, showing a beautiful young girl in full fleshings in the pose of the siren tempting the good monk. An exceedingly effective subject in every respect."
The U.S. Library of Congress catalog gives the following description: "Photographed from a single camera position, the film shows a man seated at a desk turning the pages of a manuscript. He turns his head toward the camera and, by the use of stop-action photography, an unclothed woman appears before him. He gets up from where he has been sitting and moves toward her. She moves away from him to the edge of the stage and turns into a skeleton. When St. Anthony sees the skeleton, he falls to the floor."
This film was shot at American Mutoscope's rooftop studio at 841 Broadway in New York City.
The American Mutoscope Company was co-founded in Dec 1895 by former Edison Manufacturing Company inventor William K. L. Dickson (who left Edison in Apr of that year), fellow inventors Herman Casler and Harry Marvin, and businessman Elias Koopman. Their Mutoscope, which originally made flip-card peep show movies, soon rivaled Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope (see Edison Kinetoscopic Records for 1893). In the summer of 1896, when Edison introduced the Vitascope 35mm projector, American Mutoscope immediately came out with its own 68mm projector that offered a superior image. In 1899, the company changed its name to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, then shortened it nine years later to the Biograph Company.