''William Tell'' is a 1903 French silent

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Lucien Nonguet Lucien Henri Nonguet (10 May 1869 – 22 June 1955) was a French film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the first film director and screenwriter of the Pathé company. Biography Lucien Nonguet was born on 10 May 1869 in Poitier ...

and distributed in France by

Pathé Frères Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipme ...

. The original French title is ''Guillaume Tell''. It is the first

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the eponymous play by

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

.Review and link to watch the film:

Cast

Edmond Boutillon as

Albrecht Gessler Albrecht Gessler, also known as Hermann, was a legendary 14th-century Habsburg bailiff (german: Landvogt) at Altdorf, whose brutal rule led to the William Tell rebellion and the eventual independence of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Legend Accordin ...

Plot

The film shows five scenes inspired by key moments of the eponymous play by Friedrich Schiller. Three of these scenes are introduced by an intertitle. ''1. William Tell's heroism.'' A mountainous landscape with a staircase. William Tell helps a peasant escape on a rowing boat just before a group of soldiers enters. ''2. The Plot.'' Intertitle: "People and bourgeois take oath" A clearing near a mountain lake. A group of people enter and surround William Tell. They take a solemn oath. ''3. The Apple.'' Intertitle: "William Tell is arrested". A village square in the mountains. Several villagers enter the square followed by two heralds who sound their trumpets before a proclamation is read: Everybody must salute the hat of Governor Gessler hanging on a pole. Everybody does it except William Tell who has just entered with his son. As punishment, he must shoot with his bow an arrow on an apple placed on his son's head. He achieves the feit but is nevertheless arrested. ''4. Death of Gessler.'' Intertitle: "The people cheer William Tell". An embankment in a mountainous landscape. Gessler arrives on a rowboat and William Tell shoots an arrow which kills him ''5. The Swiss cheer their Liberator.'' Villagers are dancing on a square. William Tell appears and all cheer him.

Analysis

Although

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 ...

directed in 1898 a film titled '' Adventures of William Tell'' (french: Guillaume Tell et le clown), this was just a knockabout farce featuring a clown trying to shoot an apple off the head of a dummy which comes to life. Lucien Nonguet can therefore rightly be credited as director of the first cinematographic adaptation of Schiller's play, albeit in a very abbreviated form. This was not the first

historical film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

directed by Nonguet. He had already directed, also in 1903, one of Pathé's first historical film, ''Épopée napoléonienne'', also known as ''The Life of Napoleon'', ''Napoleon Bonaparte'' or ''The Rise and Fall of Napoleon the Great'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The film is shot in a ''tableau'' style, and follows the "single, unified viewpoint of the autonomous shot-scene", which had been established as a characteristic feature of the historical film genre by ''Épopée napoléonienne''. Pathé actually stressed the ''theatrical'' esthetics of the film in the way it was presented in its catalogue: "This popular and interesting legend takes place amidst the country life of the mountain population. The beautiful and picturesque sights which exist in Switzerland have given us an opportunity of utilizing the resources our theatre affords and our scene-painters have been able to have a free run on their imaginations and have completed the work by a series of magnificent scenes of the most artistic character." Some copies of the film were colorized with the mechanical stencil-based film tinting process

Pathécolor Pathécolor, later renamed Pathéchrome, was an early mechanical stencil-based film tinting process for movies developed by Segundo de Chomón for Pathé in the early 20th century. Among the last feature films to use this process were the British re ...

in the workshop of

Segundo de Chomón Segundo Víctor Aurelio Chomón y Ruiz (also Chomont or Chaumont ; 17 October 1871 – 2 May 1929) was a pioneering Spanish film director, cinematographer and screenwriter. He produced many short films in France while working for Pathé, Pat ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

.Juan-Gabriel Tharrats, Segundo de Chomón: un pionnier méconnu du cinéma européen ; Espagne, France, Italie ; 1902 - 1928, L'Harmattan, 2009, p. 42

Distribution

''William Tell'' was distributed by Pathé Frères in 1903 in France, and in 1904 in the United States. In the latter country, it was also distributed by the

Kleine Optical Company George Kleine (1864June 8, 1931) was an American film producer and cinema pioneer. Biography Klein's father, Charles, was a New York optician who sold optical devices and stereopticons. Klein joined the family firm, moving to Chicago in 1893 w ...

, the

Edison Manufacturing Company The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 188 ...

, and the

Lubin Manufacturing Company The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was formed in 1 ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0457927
Tell (1903) William Tell''
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A Cinema History

''Guillaume Tell – Lucien Nonguet – 1903''
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Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé
(in French) 1903 films French silent short films French black-and-white films French historical films 1903 short films 1900s historical films Films based on works by Friedrich Schiller Films directed by Lucien Nonguet