The Pigeon Fairy
About The Pigeon Fairy
A fairy on a bare stage makes pigeons appear around her and then sends them off. She finishes the turn by becoming a figure that is half woman and half bird.
Cast & crew
More about The Pigeon Fairy
Pathé catalogue number 1456, measured at 45 meters. The Cinémathèque française credits Gaston Velle as director and Segundo de Chomón as photographer. Wikidata dates the release November 3, 1906.
Themes
Making
Wikidata lists Chomón as co-director. The Cinémathèque française and DvdToile keep Velle as director and Chomón on the camera.
Look
Segundo de Chomón photographed it. A surviving copy still carries Pathé stencil color.
Technique
The pigeon trick plays as reverse motion. The bird-woman change is staged as a straight illusion.
Preservation
The Cinémathèque française catalogues a color 35mm copy. Viewers of the circulating print still see the stencil color.
Notes
- The Spanish title is El hada de las palomas.
- The Cinémathèque française lists the picture as 35mm color and about three minutes. DvdToile's synopsis is one line: a pretty fairy makes pigeons appear and disappear.
- On IMDb, Bob Lipton reads the pigeon appearances as the shot printed in reverse.
- Velle had worked as a stage magician, Professor Velle, before Pathé hired him for féeries. In 1906 he also became artistic director at Cines in Rome.
Scenes
- Pigeons gather around the fairy and then leave the shot.
- She becomes a half-woman, half-bird figure.
