Star Films (Méliès) Questions

sc1957 · Post by **sc1957** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:48 pm

I'm working my way through Flicker Alley's Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema set. I wonder if anyone can answer a couple questions about the film catalog numbers.

1) When were catalog numbers applied to these films? Was it when they were produced, or at some later date?

2) Why do some of the films have multiple catalog numbers (i.e., 219-224 Cinderella, 5 min 41 sec, and 226-227 The Mysterious Knight, 1 min 32 sec)?

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:53 pm

The catalogues were issued almost from the beginning. Those films were sold to exhibitors.

The numbers like "222-224" meant the item consisted of three pieces. The standard reel of 1000 feet didn't come in for some time.

Bob

sc1957 · Post by **sc1957** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:53 am

Thanks for the info... I looked around, but must not have looked far enough.

Post by **silentfilm** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:51 am

It was also standard practice for Edison films at that time that longer films would have different catalog numbers for different parts of the film. Presumably, you could buy just a section of a film, maybe if it was going to be shown in a peepshow and not projected on a screen.