THE MECHANICAL BUTCHERS

THE MECHANICAL BUTCHERS (vt THE MECHANICAL DELICATESSEN). France: Lumière, 1897? (after 1895, before 1898). Silent short (17 meters, ca. 54 seconds). Coll. THE LUMIÈRE BROTHERS' FIRST FILMS. France: Lumière Brothers Association and the Archives du Film du Crentre National de la Cinematographie (prod.) / Kino Video (dist.), 1996. Edited for the collection by Thierry Fremaux. Narrated by Bertrand Travernier.

Cited by Naha, Science Fictionary, who gives a late date for production and says we see a pig go into "a machine that automatically changes it into bacon" and other processed pork products. The machine is very low-tech even for the 1890s. Note film in context of Lumière Brothers documentary shorts on the theme of France at Work; with no SpFx, the film documents a superimposition of the mechanical upon the organic as a street-theatre visual joke. Cf. and contrast machine sequences in S. Eisenstein's OLD AND NEW (cited in this Category).