The Colonel's Shower Bath
About The Colonel's Shower Bath
Two painters stand on a scaffold over a stone arch while a platoon forms up below. Their colonel inspects the men, takes some papers, and sits on a stool to read. A painter coming back up the ladder with a bucket of water trips and empties it on him. The soldiers laugh, then freeze into straight faces when he turns around.
Cast & crew
More about The Colonel's Shower Bath
Star Film catalogue number 391. GRIMH dates it before 31 May 1902 and gives the length as 20 metres (65 feet).
Themes
Making
The set is a two-level view: painters on a wooden platform above, soldiers at attention underneath.
Preservation
A print survives, running under a minute.
Notes
- The Era (London), 31 May 1902, listed an English title, The Painters Mishap in the Barracks.
- It was shown as La Douche du colonel at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Digny on 25 October 1903.
- In an ORTF interview with Pierre Tchernia broadcast on 18 February 1955, François Lallement identified himself as the second soldier from the left and said Méliès's employees came to Montreuil when he needed them on camera.
- The gag is a single drenching, with almost none of the substitution tricks Méliès used in his magic films.
Scenes
- The painter misses his footing between ladder and platform and dumps the bucket on the seated colonel.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (La Douche du colonel (1902).webm)
