Sleeping Beauty
About Sleeping Beauty
Fairies attend the christening of a princess and give her gifts. An older fairy, left off the list, curses the child: at fifteen she will die from the prick of a spindle. A good fairy softens the curse to sleep. Years later the princess finds an old woman spinning, pricks her finger, and the castle sleeps. Hedges grow around it for a hundred years. A prince reaches her, kisses her hand, and the court wakes. The last scene is their wedding.
Cast & crew
More about Sleeping Beauty
Albert Capellani and Lucien Nonguet directed the Pathé short, from Charles Perrault. Segundo de Chomón did the photography and the trick work. Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn is credited with the design. Julienne Mathieu is the named player. The French title is La Belle au bois dormant.
Themes
Making
De Chomón, already Pathé's trick specialist, handled the camera and the transformation scenes for Capellani and Nonguet.
Look
Segundo de Chomón photographed the film and made the trick shots.
Preservation
A print circulates. The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé has screened a 35mm copy.
Notes
- The American release title is Sleeping Beauty. Danish listings use Tornerose.
- A Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé screening timed a 35mm print at 14 minutes.
- Julienne Mathieu, wife of Segundo de Chomón, is the only player named in the Pathé credits.
- Catalog intertitles on an English copy include "The Christening of the Princess" and "Thou Shalt Sleep for a Hundred Years.
- An English copy's title cards call her sixteen. The French synopsis says the curse falls at fifteen.
Scenes
- The forgotten fairy curses the baby at the christening.
- The princess pricks her finger on the spindle.
- The prince kisses her hand and the court wakes.
Influenced by
- Charles Perrault's Sleeping Beauty
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (La belle au bois dormant (1908).webm)
