''The Last Cartridges'' (french: Les Dernières Cartouches, also released as ''Bombardement d'une Maison''; Star Film Catalogue no. 105) is an 1897 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 war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
directed by
Georges Méliès, based on the 1873
painting of the same name by
Alphonse de Neuville
Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville (31 May 183518 May 1885) was a French academic painter who studied under Eugène Delacroix. His dramatic and intensely patriotic subjects illustrated episodes from the Franco-Prussian War, the Crimean War, the ...
. The film recreates the
defense of a house at Bazeilles, on September 1, 1870 at the
Battle of Sedan
The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, ...
during the
Franco-Prussian War.
The film was a great success and inspired the
Lumière,
Pathé and
Gaumont studios to film imitations.
Synopsis
A group of soldiers attempt to defend a derelict house, where a nun cares for their wounded, but the house is bombed as they fire the last of the rounds of ammunition they have gathered from the floor.
References
External links
*
SilentEra entry for Lumiere version, stating this was one of the earliest hand-coloured films*
1897 films
1897 short films
1890s war films
Films directed by Georges Méliès
Films set in 1870
Franco-Prussian War films
French black-and-white films
French silent short films
French war films
Silent war films
1890s French films
1890s French-language films
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