Ally-Oop
Directed by Segundo de Chomon, the amazing novelty Spaniard (kind of like a Spanish Melies, only more so — also an animator and engineer of the first camera dolly, for CABIRIA). These suave zuaves are sure to impress with their amazing (ahem) athletic feats. However do they do it?
Another little contribution to the For the Love of Film, the Film Preservation Blogathon.
By the way, if you want to read the other blog posts (and you should), go here and here.
Donate to the cause here. Do it!
shadowplay 
February 20, 2010 at 3:57 pm
That was very cool, and I like the color tinting. Obviously the film was reversed, but did they actually strike some of those poses? It’s hard to figure out. Thanks, David, for your stalwart support!
February 20, 2010 at 3:59 pm
None of these acrobats are Japanese.
February 20, 2010 at 4:40 pm
What a fun addition! Thanks…….
February 20, 2010 at 4:54 pm
So THAT’S where Busby drew his inspiration!
February 20, 2010 at 5:29 pm
None of these Japanese are acrobats!
busby drew his inspiration from dry martinis drunk in the bath… but the principle of filming dance numbers from above does seem to have existed before he came along.
February 20, 2010 at 6:25 pm
February 20, 2010 at 6:28 pm
February 20, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Thank you for sharing that. Segundo was an important guy who doesn’t get mentioned as much as he should. The color is so well-registered I’ll bet it was done using the stencil method.
February 20, 2010 at 9:41 pm
holy iga ninja!..sign that act up for the Keith circuit!..they’ll go on after Gallagher and Sheen..
February 21, 2010 at 3:38 am
Hey, that’s Gallagher and Shean. I saw Al Shean in a film last night. This film is charmingly weird – Japanese that aren’t, acrobats that aren’t, overhead shots, reversing the film (I think).
February 21, 2010 at 6:09 am
And Al Shean was the Marx Brothers’ uncle, Minnie’s brother.
February 21, 2010 at 8:43 am
Roman Polanski wins Best director:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8526677.stm
February 21, 2010 at 12:01 pm
http://thispigsalley.blogspot.com/2010/02/perhaps-his-best-movie-is-run-of-arrow.html
My piece on Run of the Arrow for the Film-Preservation Army Fraktion
February 21, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Cynics will say Polanski’s win is political, but I suspect the movie will more than merit it. What a fantastic career he’s been having. Have you seen Oliver Twist? It’s really very good.
Exciting subject, Arthur, I’ll read later. Now I really must do some screenwriting.
February 21, 2010 at 1:40 pm
No problem, nothing’s more important than film-making…
February 21, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Of course the win is political — but not in the way his detractors (with their incessant squack/mantra of “Don’t you know he drugged, raped a sodomized a child?”) would imagine. Maximum effectiveness depends on whether or not you’ve been paying close attention to the genocidal con-job known as the “War of Terror.”
February 21, 2010 at 4:24 pm
All award wins are political, sometimes they are political for good reasons, generally for bad reasons. Still I’m glad Polanski won though for reasons that have nothing to do with the film(which I haven’t yet seen…though I want to very much).
February 21, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I think he won for the film and the film alone. It’s the work of master.
February 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I’m certain it’s deserved. But I incline to the view that nobody wins any award for the right reasons. The chances of somebody deserving a prize, getting it for the right film, and for the right reasons, are very slim in this world! I have to be cynical because I won some prizes once and I’d be (more) bigheaded if I thought they meant too much.
February 24, 2010 at 12:02 pm
David Ehrenstein you’re being a tool. For heavens sake stop it.
February 24, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Oh go on then.