This film is part of Free

Title of error

Merry Moments in France

Lively Gallic goings on in an early film sound experiment

1907 3 mins Silent

Overview

This petit morceau of ooh-la-la seems to be a recreation of part of a stage play in the French farce style. It's likely that it was originally accompanied by a recorded soundtrack on disc - making it a relatively early example of its type if it really is 1907 - though sadly there's no known trace of any actual disc. Still, what survives has the flavour of louche Gallic carryings-on (at least as the more inhibited Edwardian Brits might have imagined it), even if the dancing isn't quite the Folies-Bergere...

The film is credited to Mr E Seal Donisthorpe - presumably Edmund, son of Wordsworth Seal Donisthorpe, one of many late 19th century inventors in the race to make photographs move. Edmund seems to have spent the early 1900s working on stereoscopic filming, sound synchronisation and other processes intended to improve film realism. Around 1910 he and his father unveiled the 'Kinesigraph', a 'perfect' sound-film disc synchroniser, "mechanical in operation... a marvel of ingenuity which can be managed by the veriest novice". Alas, the Kinesigraph hardly merits a footnote in the story of the development of film sound.

Country

United Kingdom

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

Music

Watch for free

A Woman Undressing A Woman Undressing

Pornography 1896 1 mins Silent

A treat for Victorian voyeurs - and Britain's oldest erotic film?

Watch for free

Dream Doll Dream Doll

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 12 mins Silent

A relationship liable to blow up at any moment is at the heart of this animated short about a man and an inflatable sex doll

Watch for free

Moment Moment

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 12 mins

An intimate, unusual encounter with the progressive narrative of orgasm.

Currently unavailable

The Sex Victims The Sex Victims

Horror 1973 37 mins

A truck driver thinks he’s in luck when he meets a strange girl by the road in this supernatural horror short

Watch for free

Beauty in Brief Beauty in Brief

Drama 1955 4 mins Silent Location: London

A young bride-to-be models a modish nylon nightie before a voyeuristic camera in this silent 1950s striptease film.

Watch for free

Xcitement! Xcitement!

Pornography 1960 5 mins Silent

Glamour goddess Pamela Green reveals all in a key ‘60s striptease collaboration with George Harrison Marks.

Watch for free

Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 24 mins

Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

Watch for free

Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 30 mins

Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell

Documentary 2024 42 mins

Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels

Short documentary 2024 12 mins

Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.