The Haunted Castle (1897 British film)

The Haunted Castle is a hypothetical lost 1897 British film, attributed in some filmographies to the British film pioneer George Albert Smith,[1][2] but which may be a misidentification of a French film by Georges Méliès.[3]

For other uses, see The Haunted Castle.

The Haunted Castle
Directed byGeorge Albert Smith (attributed)
Production
company
GAS Films (attributed)
Release date
  • 1897 (1897)
Running time
50 feet (about 1 minute)[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageSilent

Many of Smith's films show an interest in supernatural themes, such as Photographing a Ghost (1898), The Haunted Picture Gallery (1899), and his major short comedy Mary Jane's Mishap (1903); he also filmed a version of the Faust legend.[2] A film called The Haunted Castle, supposedly released by Smith in December 1897, was attributed to him in the 1973 edition of The British Film Catalogue.[3]

However, the film historian John Barnes, in his book-length study of the year 1897 in British film, concluded that the title referred to a Méliès film that had been referenced in England since May of that year.[3] Méliès's 1897 film Le Château hanté was indeed released in Britain as The Haunted Castle. (A slightly earlier film of his, Le Manoir du diable, made in the winter of 1896–7, is also known as The Haunted Castle after its American release title.)[4]

Notes
  1. Young, R. G. (1997), The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies, New York: Applause, p. 268, ISBN 9781557832696
  2. Leeder, Murray (2017), The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema, London: Palgrave Macmillan
  3. Barnes, John (1983), The Rise of the Cinema in Great Britain, London: Bishopsgate Press, p. 86
  4. Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 337, ISBN 9782732437323


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