Le Barbier de Séville | |
---|---|
Directed by | Georges Méliès |
Based on |
The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais |
Release date |
|
Running time | 22 minutes
[1] 412 meters/1340 feet 295 meters/960 feet (abridged) [2] |
Country | France |
Language | Silent |
The Barber of Seville (French: Le Barbier de Séville), [3] also released as The Barber of Sevilla, or the Useless Precaution, [2] was a 1904 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on the 1775 play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. [1] It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 606–625 in its catalogues, [2] where it was advertised as a comédie burlesque en 7 actes, d'après Beaumarchais. [4] Like several other of Méliès's longer films, two versions were released simultaneously: a complete 22-minute print and an abridged print. [1]
As with his 1904 film Faust and Marguerite, Méliès prepared a special film score for The Barber of Seville, adapted from the most well-known arias from the Rossini opera. [5] Like at least 4% of Méliès's entire output (including such films as A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage, The Kingdom of the Fairies, and The Rajah's Dream), some prints were individually hand-colored and sold at a higher price. [6]
The film is currently presumed lost. [3]