In addition to being a trick film, "The X-Ray Fiend" could be added to the list of what historians of early British film have called "courtship comedies". Reportedly, Alfred Moul and Robert W. Paul may've started this genre with "The Soldier's Courtship" (1896). Also in 1897, George Albert Smith, the maker of this film, made the courtship comedy "Hanging Out the Clothes" (see my review of that film for further discussion). In these films, a couples' canoodling is interrupted (by the X-Ray camera in this one) and someone is knocked around a bit--what film historians call a "punitive ending". Courtship comedies generally were set in a pastoral or park setting, but the costume trick in "The X-Ray Fiend" required filming in a studio against a black background; however, the film does retain the park bench.
The trick film was an even more popular genre of early cinema. The tricks in this one are two substitution-splices: the film was cut to switch the actors' costumes to and from skeletons, but make it appear that the change is a result of the X-Ray camera exposing the couples' skeletons. This editing trick had been invented a couple years earlier with motion pictures' first edit in "The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots". Georges Méliès and Pathé used it in trick films as early as 1896 in "The Vanishing Lady" (Escamotage d'une dame au théâtre Robert Houdin) and "Turn-of-the-Century Barber" (Le barbier fin de siècle), respectively.
The narrative device for the trick is X-rays, which was newsy at the time--since physicist Wilhelm Röntgen has recently been the first to systematically study X-rays, so "The X-Ray Fiend" is of some historical interest in that respect, too. Also in 1897, John Macintyre was the first to make scientific X-ray films ("X-Ray Cinematography of Frog's Legs"). "The X-Ray Fiend" may be parodying Macintyre's footage. Additionally, the X-ray camera makes "The X-Ray Fiend" an early self-referential film, as it's a film about a kind of filming.
Yet, simply put, this is just 46 feet of broad humor and unconvincing skeleton costumes. Nevertheless, George Albert Smith was one of early cinema's most innovative pioneers; in some ways, he was more innovative than the more well-known Méliès and Edwin S. Porter. After this film, Smith went on to introduce or develop various filmic techniques and narrative innovations, including: multi-shot films, close-ups, point-of-view shots, extended scene dissection and match-on-action cuts, insert shots, parallel action, title cards, masking, multiple-exposure photography and Kinemacolor. Smith was key to developing film narrative, technique and grammar.
The trick film was an even more popular genre of early cinema. The tricks in this one are two substitution-splices: the film was cut to switch the actors' costumes to and from skeletons, but make it appear that the change is a result of the X-Ray camera exposing the couples' skeletons. This editing trick had been invented a couple years earlier with motion pictures' first edit in "The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots". Georges Méliès and Pathé used it in trick films as early as 1896 in "The Vanishing Lady" (Escamotage d'une dame au théâtre Robert Houdin) and "Turn-of-the-Century Barber" (Le barbier fin de siècle), respectively.
The narrative device for the trick is X-rays, which was newsy at the time--since physicist Wilhelm Röntgen has recently been the first to systematically study X-rays, so "The X-Ray Fiend" is of some historical interest in that respect, too. Also in 1897, John Macintyre was the first to make scientific X-ray films ("X-Ray Cinematography of Frog's Legs"). "The X-Ray Fiend" may be parodying Macintyre's footage. Additionally, the X-ray camera makes "The X-Ray Fiend" an early self-referential film, as it's a film about a kind of filming.
Yet, simply put, this is just 46 feet of broad humor and unconvincing skeleton costumes. Nevertheless, George Albert Smith was one of early cinema's most innovative pioneers; in some ways, he was more innovative than the more well-known Méliès and Edwin S. Porter. After this film, Smith went on to introduce or develop various filmic techniques and narrative innovations, including: multi-shot films, close-ups, point-of-view shots, extended scene dissection and match-on-action cuts, insert shots, parallel action, title cards, masking, multiple-exposure photography and Kinemacolor. Smith was key to developing film narrative, technique and grammar.