''How Bridget's Lover Escaped'' (french: Le Mariage de Victorine), also known as ''Le Mariage de Victoire'', is a 1907 French

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...

Plot

Production

The cast includes

Fernande Albany Fernande Françoise Raoult, known professionally as Fernande Albany (22 December 1889, Lison – 25 November 1966, Paris), was a French actress in theatre and film. Career Albany appeared in many of the films of Georges Méliès. Her work ...

as the cook (Victorine in the French release of the film, Bridget in the American version), and the actor Manuel as her fiancé the fireman. The scene outside the house was filmed outdoors, using Méliès's own house in

Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis Montreuil (), sometimes unofficially referred to as Montreuil-sous-Bois (), is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris in Seine-Saint-Denis. With a population o ...

. The film includes examples of substitution splicing, as well as two experimental techniques relatively rare in Méliès's films: a three-scene

cross-cutting Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultane ...

sequence, and a

medium shot In a movie a medium shot, mid shot (MS), or waist shot is a camera angle shot from a medium distance. Use Medium shots are favored in sequences where dialogues or a small group of people are acting, as they give the viewer a partial view of th ...

used to give the audience a final glimpse of the cook and her fiancé.

Release

The film was released by Méliès's

Star Film Company The Manufacture de films pour cinématographes, often known as Star Film, was a French film production company run by the illusionist and film director Georges Méliès. History On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended the celebrated first publi ...

and is numbered 929–935 in its catalogues. It was registered for American copyright at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

on 26 April 1907. The film's release was first advertised in the press on 1 July 1907, in the ''Phono-Ciné-Gazette''. An unedited print of the film on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

stock survives at the Library of Congress.

References

Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films French black-and-white films French comedy films 1907 comedy films 1907 films Silent comedy films 1900s French films {{1900s-France-film-stub