Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Magic Bricks" is a French 3-minute short film by Spanish director Segundo de Chomón and those who only know about the very basics of silent film have certainly come across the name already as he comes right after Méliès in a group of prolific and successful filmmakers that also include Griffith for example. But SdC is certainly closer to Méliès from what we see here too. Magic shows were a common subject in these movies that are over a century old, actually almost 110 years old in this case. The big special thing in here, however, is not the plot or the acting or the magic, but the use of color which was really not common at all at that point. Hell half a century later, the majority of films were in black-and-white. So today we of course don't really see color as something special, but back then it absolutely was. Still I would say that everything taken together here, it was not a great film, not among the best of its era or from its filmmaker. I give it a thumbs-down this time.

bob the moo Two magicians make people appear and disappear in front of our very eyes in this colourful French short film. Modern audiences will not be amazed at all by the appearing and disappearing characters but at the time I can imagine it was met with "how did they do that" gasps. However watching it now is still a wonderful experience because this was almost exactly a hundred years ago when this sort of thing was new and being thought up as these films were made. New ideas were being taken and expanded upon and used in different ways.This film simply gives the producers a structure to play within. There is some humour but really this is all about the visual effects and with the colours on top of that it makes it interesting to watch when you have a feel for what the historical context you are watching it within.

MartinHafer This film is very entertaining, and if I had not already seen "Le Thaumaturge Chinois" by Georges Méliès, I would have no doubt scored it higher. That's because "Le Thaumaturge Chinois" was in many ways the exact same film but made several years earlier! It was not very uncommon in the early days of cinema for studios to plagiarize the work of their competitors. Today, they would have no doubt been sued for this, but in the "wild and crazy" days of early cinema, it was not very unusual. However, I also have to admit that Magic Bricks perhaps a little better AND it also is totally hand-colored! Nice stuff, but hardly original!

Snow Leopard There are lots of visual effects and camera tricks in this short feature about "Magic Bricks", and most of them work well. Evaluated solely in terms of technique, it's quite good. The material itself, though, is rather bland, with only a couple of really interesting moments.The movie shows two conjurers performing an act together, using boxes, blocks, and other similar props. Except for one or two of the tricks later in the show, most of their tricks are not especially interesting in themselves, and the main reason to watch this film is to see how the camera was used to create illusions that would otherwise have been difficult or impossible to make.Most of the visual effects work well, and they give the appearance of having been set up and filmed with care. The film was also hand-tinted in color, although much of the color has now faded. The technical and production end are pretty good, and they make it watchable in spite of the somewhat drab nature of the material itself.