Le Ballet Mécanique (1924) Starring Alice Prin aka
Kiki of Montparnasse. Directed by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy. Written by Fernand
Léger. No Producer Credited. Run time: 19 minutes. Black and White/Color.
France. Experimental, Silent, Short.
Filmmakers have been experimenting with celluloid almost as
long as the technology has existed. One of the earlier examples is Le Ballet
Mécanique (1924), a French film with American input released and mostly
credited to Fernand Léger, although American Dudley Murphy was also involved in
the filmmaking.
The film they made is, to quote The Silent Era review, a montage “of live action cinematography, shots of geometric shapes, colors, odd found items, commercial product photography, observations through a mirrored prism, image repetition, household items and machinery in movement, fairground attractions, and stop-motion animation.”
