Chirurgie fin de siècle | 1900 | Comedy, Short

Title: Chirurgie fin de siècle | 1900 | Comedy, Short Director: Alice Guy Studio: Société L. Gaumont et compagnie Runtime: 2 Format: Silent, black-and-white Country: France Language: Silent Genres: Comedy, Short --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Preparation and Anesthesia 00:00:25 The Operation 00:00:50 Replacement Limbs 00:01:20 Revival Attempts 00:01:45 Dance and Exit --- Summary: In an operating room, two assistants anesthetize a patient while a brusque surgeon amputates an arm and a leg. After the surgeon departs, the assistants retrieve spare limbs from a container, affix them with glue, and attempt to revive the patient using bells and bellows. The patient awakens and dances energetically, turning a gory premise into a comic sketch. The film plays with macabre humor to lampoon medical practice at the turn of the century, using simple props and substitution to create a lighthearted resolution to bodily disassembly. --- Background: Made at Gaumont by Alice Guy, widely recognized as the first woman to direct narrative films, this one‑reel sketch exemplifies early 1900s studio comedy and trick staging in France. It reflects the brief, self‑contained format common to Gaumont productions of the era and showcases Guy’s playful approach to spectacle and satire. --- Trivia: A placard reading “Elgé” appears on screen as a house mark within the set. Also known as Turn‑of‑the‑Century Surgery in some listings. Included in the Kino Lorber release Alice Guy Blaché: Volume 1 – The Gaumont Years. Some sources time the film at approximately 2 minutes 4 seconds. Not to be confused with Georges Méliès’s 1902 film Une indigestion, released in English as Up‑to‑Date Surgery. The title was programmed in recent curated retrospectives of Alice Guy’s Gaumont period. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: 1900 Original Studio / Distributor: Société L. Gaumont et compagnie Copyright Status: Public Domain --- Hashtags: ChirurgieFinDeSiecle AliceGuy Gaumont SilentFilm FrenchCinema PublicDomain 1900 ShortFilm Comedy This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by jake@archive.org. https://archive.org/details/silent-chirurgie-fin-de-sicle