Le Manoir du Diable by Georges Méliès -- first ever horror film 1896

Friday, 4 May 2012

The 1896 three-minute-long film Le Manoir du Diable (The Haunted Castle) was directed by Georges Méliès, and is considered by most to be he first horror film as well the first vampire film.

It was released on Christmas Eve in 1896 at the Théâtre Robert Houdin in Paris. Originally meant to amuse people, it ended up frightening them--thus was born the horror genre of cinema.

Referred to as the first "Cinemagician", illusionist and filmmaker Méliès became famous for inventing technical and narrative developments and special effects: multiple exposure, time-lapse photography, dissolves, hand-painted color, and he accidentally discovered stop trick in 1896.

An early pioneer of horror films, Méliès was also known to create some of the important early science fiction films: A Trip to The Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). (Somewhat in the style of Jules Verne.)

Méliès directed 531 films between 1896 and 1913, ranging from 1 to 40 minutes in length. 

In 1910, Méliès made a deal with Charles Pathé (Pathé cinema still exists today as one of France's biggest chain of cinemas), a deal where he accepted a large amount of money by mortgaging his home and studio to Pathé. In 1912 Méliès broke his contract with Pathé, and his brother (and business partner) frittered away all his money. Méliès was bankrupt and, by the mid-1920s was a candy and toy salesman at the Montparnasse station in Paris. 

By the late 1920s, journalists began to research his life and work. A retrospective of his work was held in 1929, and in 1931 Méliès was awarded the Légion d'honneur, presented to him by one of the Lumière brothers. In 1932 the Cinema Society arranged for him to live at La Maison du Retrait du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home. In 1938, Méliès died of cancer, and is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetary in Paris. 

Bon, Gros bisous de cinéma d'horreur!!!

Love,

Charley

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History of the French language

Friday, 6 January 2012

After much research, and discussion amongst French friends, I have come to the conclusion that France is indeed quite the melting pot! The history of its language is a real mish-mash of invading forces' languages and cultures, which makes for an interesting story. 

French is a descendant of the spoken Latin language, Vulgar Latin, of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Sardinian and Catalan--all are called "Romance Languages".

The Roman Empire in 60 CE

In the Roman Empire, there were two types of Latin: Classical Latin which was written and spoken by the upper class, and Vulgar Latin which was not written, but only spoken by the lower class. 

The invading Roman forces were primarily lower class subjects who spoke Vulgar Latin. As the Romans stuck around for quite a while, their Vulgar Latin gradually blended in with local dialects and languages, creating new languages. 

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar, Emperor of the Roman Empire, conquered Gaul, now known as present day France, in 50 BCE. The Romans found the people speaking a language known as Gaulish, which is known to be an ancient Celtic language dating to before 500 CE used in the western and central parts of Europe and Asia Minor. 

The most famous Gauls are, bien sur, Asterix and Obelix from René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's comic book tales of the Gauls fighting off the Roman invaders! Excellent reading, wonderful wit and prose (brilliant translation).

While the French language evolved from Vulgar Latin, it was nonetheless influenced by Gaulish, especially in its phonological development. In French, some 200 words of Gaulish origin have been retained, most of which pertain to folk life such as: lande, chêne, alouette, belette, boe, cervoise, mouton, changer and craindre. Other Celtic words were not borrowed directly but brought in through the spoken Vulgar Latin: béton, chainse, glaive, manteau and vassal.

Vulgar Latin quickly took hold among the urban aristocracy for mercantile, official and educational reasons, but did not prevail in the countryside until some four or five centuries later. 

An invading tribe of Franks

From the 3rd century on, Western Europe was invaded by Germanic tribes from the north and east, and some of these groups settled in Gaul. In the history of the French language, the most important of these groups are the Franks in northern France, the Alemanni in the modern German/French border area, the Burgundians in the Rhône Valley and the Visigoths in the Aquitaine region and Spain. Their language had a profound influence on the Latin spoken in their respective regions, altering both the pronunciation and the syntax. 

The name of the language itself, français, comes from Old French franceis/francesc from the Germanic frankisc "french, frankish" from Frank ('freeman'). The Franks referred to their land as Franko(n) which became Francia in Latin in the 3rd century. (Whew, that's a mouthful!)

Sources disagree on how much of the vocabulary of modern French comes from Germanic words, ranging from just 500 words (1%) to 7% of modern vocabulary. (Note: according to the Académie française, only 5% of the French words come from English!)

The Germanic words are words associated with social structure like: baron/baronne, bâtard, féodal, garçon, lige, maçon, maréchal, and marquis. Military terms like: attaquer, bière, flèche, guerre, garder, loge, marcher, rattraper and troupe. Colores such as: blanc/blanche, bleu, blond/blonde, brun, fauve and gris. And Common words such as: abandonner, banquet, bâtir, bois, bonnet, chagrin, choix, chic, cliché, crèche, danser, flan, frapper, galant, gâteau, jardin, joli, laid, masque, massacrer, mauvais, mousse, orgueil, parc, rater, regarder, remarquer, riche/richesse, robe, saisir, salon, savon, soupe, tampon and tomber.

Duchy of Normandy in pink

In 1204 CE, the Duchy of Normandy was integrated into the Kingdom of France, and about 150 words of Scandinavian origin were introduced into the French language, most of them having to do with the sea and seafaring. 

(Let us not forget that William the Conquerer came from Normandy, his granddaughter Empress Mathilda, see my blog--there is a lot of history in Normandy, lots of haunted places, check out the "Ghostly Stories" section of my blog for more info.) 

Bon, to be continued....

Happy weekend, Happy New Year, and may all your lives be filled with peace, love, fun and happiness in 2012.

Love, Charley

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Haunted places to visit in Paris!

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Haunted places to visit in Paris

            Paris, France, a city of legend, a city that, for six thousand years, has been settled by ancient Celts and Romans, Franks and the Merovingian, Carolingian and Capetian dynasties and by the houses of Valois and Bourbon and Napoleon. Paris has survived medieval plagues, wars of territory, religion and revolution and has been the birthplace of brilliant art, music and industry. No wonder it is France's capitol. No wonder it is one of the most haunted cities in the world.

            At the top of the Eiffel Tower, if you hear laughter mingled with screams then you are participating in the intimate torment of a young girl who was pushed to her death by an enraged lover whom she refused to marry.

            Many powerful and famous people have passed through the Notre Dame Cathedral whose stories have finished badly: Henry VI lived a troubled life and violent death; Louis XVI finished on the guillotine; Mary Queen of Scots ended up on a scaffold; Marie Antoinette, guillotined; Empress Josephine, dishonored; and Napoleon had Waterloo. There is also the story of the locksmith, Biscornet, who, overwhelmed with his commission to build the locks on the portal of Saint Anne, made a pact with the devil. Mysteriously the locks were finished in the night and the body of the locksmith found dead a few days later. Cameras and video have caught a plethora of paranormal activity inside Notre Dame.

            During WWII, a French woman married to a man in the Resistance was having a daytime relationship with a Nazi officer to gain information. At night she would meet her husband on the Pont Marie bridge. One night he never came and she died from the cold. She waits for him still, and some nights you can see her shadowy form and hear her sobbing. 

            In the Louvre museum, there are traces of spirits attached to numerous famous works, but the most easily discerned hauntings are found in the medieval section, at the base of the original donjon built in the 13^th century. Many orbs and shadows have been captured in photographs taken near the donjon.

            In the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, you will find the graves of scores of famous people like Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Proust and Delacroix. With 300,000 people buried there, many ghosts haunt Père-Lachaise Cemetery. Chopin has been seen strolling the paths and the ghosts of 147 communards who were shot at dawn against the east wall in 1871 haunt their final resting place.

            It is said there are secret tunnels leading from the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise to the Catacombs of Paris—conduits for black magic worshipers who wish to mingle in the underground with the dead. Carved by the Romans as a quarry, in 1786, the remains of roughly six million people along with remnants of their tombstones were placed in an artistic fashion along the grisly and gloomy corridors of these underground tunnels. Some people have reported the wispy feel of long-dead fingers brushing their upper backs, arms and hair, other have seen orbs and cloudy forms. Many have had to leave the tunnels, feeling a profound sense of being watched and closed in.  

            If you take a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries, keep an eye out for The Man In Red. Queen Catherine de Medici had a passion for the occult. Jean l'Ecorcheur was the man who connected her with mages and warlocks. There came a time when Catherine de Medici felt he knew too much and had him murdered. Just before he died, he declared, "I shall return!" Since then, he appears covered in blood prior to a person's death.  

         

           

          The Gallows of Montfaucon. 53 rue de la Grange-aux-Belles, Paris. In 1325 an enormous gallows was constructed. A plinth six meters high held sixteen stone pillars each ten meters high. People were hung in clusters and left to disintegrate. Then there bodies, along with bodies from other parts of Paris, were dumped into a huge pit beneath the gallows. The spot in Paris that has seen the most deaths, at night you can sometimes here the rattling of chains and groans.

            The headless ghost of Isauré de Montsouris regulalry haunts the parc Montsouris where he was murdered by bandits in 831. The park was also home to the château de Val-Vert, which housed the legendary devil Vauvert as well as the testing site for the Guillotine. Indeed a sinister environment!

            Heavy traffic in these places doesn't always make for good ghost hunting. Keep yourselves open and look beyond the obvious. 

            Gros bisous hantés Parisian! 

            Love,

            Charley 

           

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Alice Cooper in Lyon

Monday, 7 November 2011

Last night I went to see Alice Cooper in Lyon at Hall Tony Garnier. It was ... fantastique!

It was my son's first ever concert. Way to start off with a bang!

Alice Cooper puts on a good show: great music, excellent musicians (the drum solo was intense! The rocker chic guitar player, Orianthi, kicked ass!), and truly professional showmanship.

You may remember Alice Cooper from the 1992 film, Wayne's World? (See my blog) Too funny, and so fabulous of Mr. Cooper to do the cameo.

My favorite song, apart from School's Out with an homage to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, was "Feeding My Frankenstein". I couldn't find an HD definition video on Youtube of the actual concert, so you'll just have to make do with this version (which is excellent). 

Bon, back to writing! 

Gros bisous du Rock et a bientôt!

Love, Charley

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Zombie Walk 2011

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Hey everyone, I'm back!

I've just about wrapped up a translation of a French historical non-fiction manuscript which goes to print in November. Lots of other interesting writing projects in the works as well.

In the midst of all this glorious writing, I managed to take time to participate in Lyon's annual Zombie Walk. Yes, you heard me right... Zombie Walk! Now, how fun is that? 

First we went and had our makeup done by professional makeup artists who were on site.

Little old zombie moi...

... and my zombie friend.

Then, we gathered in a big square (roughly 400 zombies) where we learned a few zombie moves and shouts.

Some fellow zombies....

We walked from Croix-Rousse hill and finished at Place des Terreaux.

Zombie attack on the church of Scientology!

Ohhh, a fabulous male Snow White zombie, loved, loved, loved him!

Ok, this guy was super creepy!

Nice saw, zombie dude!

It was so much fun, so many people participated and were really into the whole zombie thing. The best part was keeping the zombie makeup on and strolling around town, totally freaked people out. Bien sur, we also wore our zombie makeup to a party that night--mwah-ha--and a fun time was had by all! 

And here is a little zombie video for you all to bring you right into the ambience that was the Zombie Walk.

Bon, gros bisous des zombies et a bientôt! 

Love, Charley

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