Le Voyage sur Jupiter (1909) - film review

After having received a lesson from his wise astronomer, a king has a strange dream.  He imagines climbing a ladder up to the stars and eventually he reaches the planet Jupiter.  The reception that awaits him is far from friendly...

This is a stunningly surreal short film from the hugely imaginative Spanish filmmaker and cinematographer Segundo de Chomón.  Despite its short length, it contains a surprising amount of detail and requires at least three or four viewings to fully appreciate its artistic and narrative content.  The film takes a child’s storybook view of astronomy: the moon is a cheekily grimacing face, an explorer needs only a ladder to reach the stars and the planets are each represented by human characters.  Whilst some viewers may cringe at the film’s lack of sophistication, it is undoubtedly a work of great artistic merit and no small technical achievement for the time it was made in.

© James Travers 2002

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