Up-to-Date Surgery

1902 French film

Up-to-Date Surgery

Directed by| Georges Méliès
Starring| Georges Méliès

Production
company

Star Film Company

Release dates

* 1902 (1902) (France)
* February 1903 (1903-02) (USA)

Country| France
Language| Silent

Une indigestion, sold in the United States as Up-to-Date Surgery and in Britain as Sure Cure for Indigestion, and also known as Chirurgie fin de siècle, is a 1902 French short silent film by Georges Méliès.

## Production

[edit]

Up-to-Date Surgery is strongly reminiscent of, and was probably inspired by, "Le Charlatan Fin de Siècle" ("The Turn-of-the-Century Charlatan"), an 1892 stage illusion at Méliès's Paris venue, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin.[1] The stage illusion was a comic sketch in which an English patient, John Patt de Cok, visits the celebrated quack doctor Giuseppe Barbenmacaroni. Grotesque misadventures ensue, culminating in the patient exploding into pieces (though his head stays alive and well).[2] The stage illusion also recalls at least two other Méliès films, Twentieth Century Surgery (1900) and The Doctor's Secret (1909).[1]

Méliès appears in the film as the doctor with the saw. From this film onward, Méliès shot two separate original camera negatives for each of his films: one for the domestic market, and one for foreign export.[3]

## Themes

[edit]

The film combines two recurring themes in Méliès's work: parodies of medical science, and body parts separated from their bodies.[4] The latter was a common theme for trick films in the first years of cinema, such as Cecil Hepworth's Explosion of a Motor Car (1900) and Alice Guy's Chirurgie fin de siècle (1901).[5]

Film scholar Tom Gunning, who posits that the theme of separated body parts is "derived ultimately from shamanism", comments that Up-to-Date Surgery could be seen as a sequel to the landmark James Williamson film The Big Swallow (1901); both are concerned with the body's "mysterious inner space".[5]

## Release

[edit]

The film was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 422–425 in its catalogues.[6] The earliest known English-language titles are Up-to-Date Surgery (in the US market) and Sure Cure for Indigestion (in the UK);[6] the title Chirurgie fin de siècle has also been used by writers discussing the film.[7] The Lubin Manufacturing Company re-released the film in the United States under the title Dr. Lorenz Outdone (Adolf Lorenz was a famous surgeon of the time), describing the doctor character as "Dr. Lorenz No. 2".[8]

A print of the film survives at the George Eastman Museum.[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Malthête, Jacques (1996), Méliès: images et illusions, Paris: Exporégie, p. 36
2. ^ Catoe, Lunette Ernestine (1967), Méliès, Magician of the Movies (MA Thesis), American University, p. 76
3. ^ Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 134, ISBN 9782732437323
4. ^ Gordon, Rae Beth (2001), Why the French Love Jerry Lewis: From Cabaret to Early Cinema, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, p. 184, ISBN 9780804738941
5. ^ a b Gunning, Tom (2018), "The Impossible Body of Early Film", in Dahlquist, Marina; Galili, Doron; Olsson, Jan; Robert, Valentine (eds.), Corporeality in Early Cinema: Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, pp. 13–24
6. ^ a b Malthête & Mannoni 2008, p. 344
7. ^ Hammond, Paul (1974), Marvellous Méliès, London: Gordon Fraser, p. 141, ISBN 0900406380
8. ^ a b Bennett, Carl (2011), "Une Indigestion", Progressive Silent Film List, SilentEra.com, retrieved 2021-01-01

## External links

[edit]

* Up-to-Date Surgery at IMDb

* v
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Georges Méliès

Actualities|

* Actualities (1896–1900)
* Reconstructed actualities (1897–1902)

Films|

| 1896|

* Playing Cards
* Conjuring
* Watering the Flowers
* The Rag-Picker
* Post No Bills
* The Rescue on the River
* A Terrible Night
* Arrival of a Train (Joinville Station)
* A Lightning Sketch
* Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds
* A Serpentine Dance
* Miss de Vère (English Jig)
* The Vanishing Lady
* The Haunted Castle
* Tom Old Boot

|

1897|

* A Nightmare
* Comedian Paulus Singing
* A Funny Mahometan
* An Hallucinated Alchemist
* The Haunted Castle
* On the Roofs
* D. Devant, Conjurer
* The School for Sons-in-law
* The Last Cartridges
* The Surrender of Tournavos
* Sea Fighting in Greece
* Gugusse and the Automaton
* Between Calais and Dover
* The Laboratory of Mephistopheles
* The Barber and the Farmer
* The Bewitched Inn
* A Private Dinner
* After the Ball
* A Hypnotist at Work
* Dancing in a Harem

1898|

* A Novice at X-Rays
* Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"
* The Magician
* The Famous Box Trick
* Pygmalion and Galatea
* Adventures of William Tell
* The Astronomer's Dream
* The Cave of the Demons
* The Four Troublesome Heads
* The Temptation of Saint Anthony

1899|

* A Dinner Under Difficulties
* Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb
* The Bridegroom's Dilemma
* An Up-to-Date Conjuror
* The Devil in a Convent
* The Pillar of Fire
* The Clown and Automobile
* A Mysterious Portrait
* Christ Walking on the Water
* Summoning the Spirits
* The Dreyfus Affair
* The Human Pyramid
* Cinderella
* The Snow Man
* The Mysterious Knight

1900|

* Addition and Subtraction
* The Miracles of the Brahmin
* The Cook's Revenge
* The Misfortunes of an Explorer
* Paris Exposition, 1900
* The One-Man Band
* Joan of Arc
* The Rajah's Dream
* The Two Blind Men
* The Artist and the Mannikin
* Thanking the Audience
* The Christmas Dream
* Crying and Laughing
* Coppelia, the Animated Doll
* Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
* A Fantastical Meal
* Going to Bed Under Difficulties
* The Doctor and the Monkey
* What Is Home Without the Boarder
* China Versus Allied Powers
* The Brahmin and the Butterfly
* The Triple-Headed Lady
* Dislocation Extraordinary
* Red Riding Hood

1901|

* The Magician's Cavern
* Excelsior!
* The Sacred Fountain
* Blue Beard
* The Man with the Rubber Head

1902|

* The Eruption of Mount Pelee
* The Catastrophe of the Balloon "Le Pax"
* A Trip to the Moon
* The Shadow-Girl
* The Coronation of Edward VII
* The Treasures of Satan
* The Human Fly
* Up-to-Date Surgery
* Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
* Robinson Crusoe
* The Marvellous Wreath

1903|

* Misfortune Never Comes Alone
* The Infernal Cake Walk
* The Mysterious Box
* The Queen's Musketeers
* The Enchanted Well
* The Inn Where No Man Rests
* The Drawing Lesson
* The Mystical Flame
* The Witch's Revenge
* The Oracle of Delphi
* A Spiritualistic Photographer
* The Melomaniac
* The Monster
* The Kingdom of the Fairies
* The Infernal Cauldron
* The Apparition
* Jupiter's Thunderbolts
* Ten Ladies in One Umbrella
* Jack Jaggs and Dum Dum
* Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
* Extraordinary Illusions
* Alcofrisbas, the Master Magician
* Jack and Jim
* The Magic Lantern
* The Ballet-Master's Dream
* The Damnation of Faust
* The Terrible Turkish Executioner
* A Moonlight Serenade

1904|

* Tit for Tat
* A Wager Between Two Magicians, or Jealous of Myself
* Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
* The Bewitched Trunk
* The Fugitive Apparitions
* The Untamable Whiskers
* The Clockmaker's Dream
* The Imperceptible Transmutations
* A Miracle Under the Inquisition
* Faust and Marguerite
* Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
* The Wonderful Living Fan
* The Cook in Trouble
* The Mermaid
* The Providence of the Waves
* The Barber of Seville
* The Wonderful Rose-Tree
* The Impossible Voyage
* The Firefall
* The Christmas Angel

1905|

* The Living Playing Cards
* The Black Imp
* The Crystal Casket
* The Lilliputian Minuet
* A Mesmerian Experiment
* The Venetian Looking-Glass
* The Palace of the Arabian Nights
* The Tower of London
* The Enchanted Sedan Chair
* An Adventurous Automobile Trip
* The Mysterious Island
* Unexpected Fireworks
* Rip's Dream
* The Scheming Gambler's Paradise
* The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship

1906|

* A Mix-up in the Gallery
* The Chimney Sweep
* The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
* The Hilarious Posters
* A Desperate Crime
* Punch and Judy
* A Roadside Inn
* Soap Bubbles
* The Merry Frolics of Satan
* A Seaside Flirtation
* The Mysterious Retort
* The Witch
* Robert Macaire and Bertrand

1907|

* Rogues' Tricks
* Under the Seas
* How Bridget's Lover Escaped
* Tunnelling the English Channel
* The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon
* Hamlet
* Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar"
* Sightseeing Through Whisky
* Good Glue Sticks
* Satan in Prison
* Delirium in a Studio
* The Knight of Black Art
* The Good Luck of a "Souse"

1908|

* Humanity Through the Ages
* The Genii of Fire
* Why That Actor Was Late
* The Dream of an Opium Fiend
* Long Distance Wireless Photography
* The Prophetess of Thebes
* In the Barber Shop
* A Fake Diamond Swindler
* The New Lord of the Village
* The Miser
* Sideshow Wrestlers
* The Broken Violin
* A Love Tragedy in Spain
* Mishaps of the New York–Paris Race
* The Woes of Roller Skaters
* Love and Molasses
* The Mischances of a Photographer
* The Indian Sorcerer
* A Tricky Painter's Fate
* French Cops Learning English
* Fun With the Bridal Party
* Not Guilty
* Buncoed Stage Johnnie
* A Grandmother's Story
* The Helping Hand
* The Old Footlight Favorite
* Honeymoon in a Balloon
* The Duke's Good Joke
* Incident from Don Quixote
* The Fairy Dragonfly
* Moitié de polka
* Fortune Favors the Brave
* Hypnotist's Revenge
* Pharmaceutical Hallucinations
* The Good Shepherdess and the Evil Princess
* The Living Doll
* Seein' Things
* The Frozen Policeman
* Tribulation or the Misfortunes of a Cobbler

1909|

* The Doctor's Secret
* The Diabolic Tenant
* Whimsical Illusions
* King of the Mediums
* The Spider and the Butterfly

1911|

* Baron Munchausen's Dream
* The Diabolical Church Window

1912|

* The Conquest of the Pole
* Cinderella or the Glass Slipper
* The Knight of the Snows
* The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family

Related|

* Jehanne d'Alcy (wife)
* Gaston Méliès (brother)
* Georges Méliès in culture
* Le Grand Méliès (1952 documentary)
* Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film prologue)
* The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007 book)
* Hugo (2011 film)
* Théâtre Robert-Houdin

* Filmography
* Bibliography
* Category

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