''Tunneling the English Channel'' (french: Le Tunnel sous la Manche ou le Cauchemar franco-anglais / ''Tunnel under the Channel, or the Franco-English Nightmare'') is a

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

by pioneer filmmaker

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 ...

. The plot follows

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

and President

Armand Fallières Clément Armand Fallières (; 6 November 1841 – 22 June 1931) was a French statesman who was President of France from 1906 to 1913. He was born at Mézin in the ''département'' of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of th ...

dreaming of building a tunnel under the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

Production

The idea of building a tunnel under the Channel was much discussed in 1907; Méliès's film is a highly topical take on the popular subject. Méliès appears in the film as the engineer who presents the blueprints for the tunnel.

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 ...

, an actress who also appeared in Méliès's ''

The Impossible Voyage ''The Impossible Voyage'' (french: Le Voyage à travers l'impossible), also known as ''An Impossible Voyage'' and ''Whirling the Worlds'', is a 1904 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by Jules Verne's play '' Journey Thr ...

'', ''

An Adventurous Automobile Trip ''An Adventurous Automobile Trip'' (french: Le Raid Paris–Monte Carlo en automobile or ''Le Raid Paris–Monte Carlo en deux heures'') is a 1905 French short film, short silent film, silent comedy film directed by Georges Méliès. The film, ...

'', and ''

The Conquest of the Pole ''The Conquest of the Pole'' (french: À la conquête du pôle) is a 1912 French silent science fantasy film directed by and starring Georges Méliès. The film, loosely inspired by contemporary events and by Jules Verne's ''Voyages Extraordinai ...

'', plays the leader of the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

parade. King Edward was played by a wash-house attendant who closely resembled the monarch, reprising a role he had played five years before in Méliès's film ''

The Coronation of Edward VII ''The Coronation of Edward VII'' (french: Le Sacre d'Édouard VII), also released as ''Reproduction, Coronation Ceremonies, King Edward VII'' and as ''Coronation of King Edward'', is a 1902 short silent film directed by Georges Méliès and prod ...

''. Special effects used in the film include stage machinery,

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating such things as fireworks, safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts and other fasteners, parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demolition. ...

substitution splice The substitution splice or stop trick is a cinematic special effect in which filmmakers achieve an appearance, disappearance, or transformation by altering one or more selected aspects of the mise-en-scène between two shots while maintaining th ...

s, superimpositions, and dissolves.

Release and reception

''Tunneling the English Channel'' 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 936–950 in its catalogues, where it was advertised as a ''fantaisie burlesque à grand spectacle en 30 tableaux''. For many of his longer films, Georges Méliès prepared a ''boniment'', a spoken commentary explaining the action, to be read aloud while the film was shown; according to the recollections of Méliès's son André Méliès, the ''boniment'' for ''Tunneling the English Channel'' included dialogues between the French president and English king, with the latter speaking French in a thick English accent. The composer Bétove (real name Michel Maurice Lévy, 1883–1965) recorded a piano score for the film in 1946. American film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum named it as one of his 100 favorite films. The academic Elizabeth Ezra called it "one of Méliès's wittiest and most engaging films."

References

External links

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