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Steve Joyce's Reviews > Segundo de Chomón: The Cinema of Fascination
Segundo de Chomón: The Cinema of Fascination
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by
Segundo de Chomón: The Cinema of Fascination now has a permanent place on my film bookshelf.
The author does a fantastic job of chronicling the oft neglected Segundo du Chomon's life and film career. I learned more about the man's early activities in the 1st twenty pages than I ever knew previously (e.g. his student and soldiering stints, his time as a film agent, film colorist, maker of documentaries, etc.)
Batllori puts Chomón's oeuvre - or at least a great portion of it - into the context of the "Cinema of Attractions" thereby allowing the reader to judge his work on its own terms rather than needlessly comparing it to much later trends and motifs.
Some of the many highlights for me were explanations of how Chomón's professional path crossed with that of men such as Gaston Velle, Ferdinand Zecca and George Melies in the initial days of film. I was also intrigued with discovering more about his subsequent participation in Cabiria, the Maciste cycle and possibly/probably(?) Abel Gance's Napoleon. To be honest, I was not aware that the man had evolved so much through the years.
The book is scholarly in nature but not dry. Since much of the volume leads up to a proposed filmography, I appreciated the fact that Joan M. Minguet Batllori often breaks into writing in the first person. So much of what is known about Chomón is still sketchy - and even contradictory - in areas. Yet, he (Batllori) is rigorous in weighing the pros and cons of an issue when putting forward his own (very) informed opinion.
Segundo de Chomón: The Cinema of Fascination is highly readable to the very last paragraph which, I think, is quote worthy:
...because of this [Chomón's] survival in the world of cinema over more than twenty-five years, for the abundant fantasy in so many of his scenes and, among other things, for his storytelling mastery in the early days of cinematic language, it can be said that Segundo de Chomón is indeed a fascinating figure.
The books comes with almost 60 pages of illustrations (111 in total) - many in color.
The author does a fantastic job of chronicling the oft neglected Segundo du Chomon's life and film career. I learned more about the man's early activities in the 1st twenty pages than I ever knew previously (e.g. his student and soldiering stints, his time as a film agent, film colorist, maker of documentaries, etc.)
Batllori puts Chomón's oeuvre - or at least a great portion of it - into the context of the "Cinema of Attractions" thereby allowing the reader to judge his work on its own terms rather than needlessly comparing it to much later trends and motifs.
Some of the many highlights for me were explanations of how Chomón's professional path crossed with that of men such as Gaston Velle, Ferdinand Zecca and George Melies in the initial days of film. I was also intrigued with discovering more about his subsequent participation in Cabiria, the Maciste cycle and possibly/probably(?) Abel Gance's Napoleon. To be honest, I was not aware that the man had evolved so much through the years.
The book is scholarly in nature but not dry. Since much of the volume leads up to a proposed filmography, I appreciated the fact that Joan M. Minguet Batllori often breaks into writing in the first person. So much of what is known about Chomón is still sketchy - and even contradictory - in areas. Yet, he (Batllori) is rigorous in weighing the pros and cons of an issue when putting forward his own (very) informed opinion.
Segundo de Chomón: The Cinema of Fascination is highly readable to the very last paragraph which, I think, is quote worthy:
...because of this [Chomón's] survival in the world of cinema over more than twenty-five years, for the abundant fantasy in so many of his scenes and, among other things, for his storytelling mastery in the early days of cinematic language, it can be said that Segundo de Chomón is indeed a fascinating figure.
The books comes with almost 60 pages of illustrations (111 in total) - many in color.
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Reading Progress
November 11, 2013
– Shelved as:
on-order
November 11, 2013
– Shelved
November 30, 2013
–
Started Reading
December 1, 2013
–
Finished Reading
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Hi Katrine,I had left this in the "Discussion" at the bottom of the book entry (not the review). Here it is again:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The only place that I know that sells this book (at least, in English) is:
http://www.laie.es/libro/segundo-de-c...
The site is in Spanish. If you click in the upper RHS for English, only some of the website text is translated. Still, it should be possible to order it. The book, of course, is also available in Spanish.
(0045)2262 3606
Katrine