The Infernal Cake-Walk
About The Infernal Cake-Walk
Pluto comes back from Earth taken with the cake-walk. He brings two dancers to perform it among the flames. Georges Méliès plays Pluto and a grotesque dancing demon. The French title is Le Cake-Walk infernal. The U.S. title is The Cake Walk Infernal.
Cast & crew
More about The Infernal Cake-Walk
Star Film catalog numbers 453–457. Wikidata times it at 5 minutes. The cake-walk was in fashion in 1903. The rhythm-dependent picture was probably shot to a piano in the studio. Effects use trapdoors, stage machinery, pyrotechnics, substitution splices, and multiple exposures. The demon masks were made for A Trip to the Moon, where the Selenites wear them. The dancing-limbs gag had been in Dislocation Extraordinary (1901). The grotto set returns in The Damnation of Faust (1903), and the will-o'-the-wisp effect returns in The Infernal Cauldron (1903). Copies are on the Internet Archive and on Wikimedia Commons.
Themes
Background
The cake-walk was a popular dance in 1903, which is the year Méliès put it in hell.
Preservation
Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Méliès is both Pluto and the dancing demon.
- The British release title is The Infernal Cake Walk.
- The Internet Archive identifier is TheInfernalCake-walk1903.
Scenes
- The two dancers cake-walk in the flames while Méliès, as Pluto, watches.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheInfernalCake-walk1903)
