There is only one other reviewer for this (should-be recognized) film by Segundo de Chomón, and he made a good point about how, in the end, this 8-minute movie is strictly effects with no real story. I can understand his point as many of these trick films were normally plot-less and had no story whatsoever--no one had yet started using the effects to tell actual stories. Yet, while there might be some films out there that don't have enough effects to make up for this issue, I think "A Panicky Picnic" is funny and absurd enough to not need a plot. As the title of this review states, the incomprehensible plot is what, in the end, makes something like this a standout from the other trick films being made during the period. If anything, most people would have to agree it's an improvement over the many magician films still being made by Star Film.
The short begins rather slowly. Some people--a man and a woman, and two oddly identical twins--embark on a journey in a wagon to go and have a picnic. Arriving in the woods (which is a hand-painted set instead of an actual woods, curiously enough) they unpack and slice open the food, only to find it infested with vermin. Deciding to call off the picnic, they then pack up and go to stay the night in an abandoned house (which doesn't really make much sense). The rest is history, as the pots in the fireplace explode, apparitions appear, and the man has a disturbing (animated) nightmare.
Considering just how weird and surrealistic the film is, it's understandable why some say it influenced Luis Bunuel. Furthermore, there is plenty of cutting, which shows how Chomón was moving past the stagy scene-by-scene films of his competitor Méliès. (After all, long-shot story films would remain the standard style of story-telling for a few more years). The effects, in addition, are among the best seen in Chomón's large body of work, and the food infestation visuals are effective and well executed for 1909.
The ending, oddly enough, appears to be cut short. The movie concludes very quickly after the man is half drowned in the well, and pulled out onto the ground. The movie cuts to a closeup as he is laying there recovering--and it ends. It's possible there are a couple more minutes of film missing, since action is still occurring within frame when in concludes. In either case, "A Panicky Picnic" is one of the most bizarre Chomón films I've seen and is commendable to containing a more original story, despite the fact the main plot formula of the haunted house is highly reminiscent of Méliès's work years before.
The short begins rather slowly. Some people--a man and a woman, and two oddly identical twins--embark on a journey in a wagon to go and have a picnic. Arriving in the woods (which is a hand-painted set instead of an actual woods, curiously enough) they unpack and slice open the food, only to find it infested with vermin. Deciding to call off the picnic, they then pack up and go to stay the night in an abandoned house (which doesn't really make much sense). The rest is history, as the pots in the fireplace explode, apparitions appear, and the man has a disturbing (animated) nightmare.
Considering just how weird and surrealistic the film is, it's understandable why some say it influenced Luis Bunuel. Furthermore, there is plenty of cutting, which shows how Chomón was moving past the stagy scene-by-scene films of his competitor Méliès. (After all, long-shot story films would remain the standard style of story-telling for a few more years). The effects, in addition, are among the best seen in Chomón's large body of work, and the food infestation visuals are effective and well executed for 1909.
The ending, oddly enough, appears to be cut short. The movie concludes very quickly after the man is half drowned in the well, and pulled out onto the ground. The movie cuts to a closeup as he is laying there recovering--and it ends. It's possible there are a couple more minutes of film missing, since action is still occurring within frame when in concludes. In either case, "A Panicky Picnic" is one of the most bizarre Chomón films I've seen and is commendable to containing a more original story, despite the fact the main plot formula of the haunted house is highly reminiscent of Méliès's work years before.