| The European Rest Cure | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot: The protagonist's ship leaving New York | |
| Directed by | Edwin S. Porter |
| Starring | Joseph Hart |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 13 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The European Rest Cure, also known as European Rest Cure is a 1904 American silent comedy film, directed by Edwin S. Porter partly filmed on location in New York. [1]
The film tells the story of an old American man who has a series of misadventures while touring Europe. After leaving New York on a steamer, he is seasick during a storm before arriving in Europe. In Ireland, he falls from a wall while attempting to kiss the Blarney stone. In Paris, he is drawn to dance the can-can with two enterprising women. In the Alps, he falls into a crevasse. In Italy, while viewing antique ruins, he is relieved of his valuables by some bandits. In Egypt (regarded as part of Europe for the purposes of the film), he falls down while climbing a pyramid in Giza, and he is finally submitted to an energetic massage in a mud bath in Germany. When he is back home, he is so exhausted that he is no longer able to walk alone.
The film is composed of 12 shots, all but one introduced by an intertitle (in italics below):
There is a strong contrast between the four first shots, which constitute the departure scene, and the rest of the film. These very realistic shots are filmed on location in New York Harbor with horizontal panning in shots 1 and 2, a tracking shot of Manhattan taken from a boat in shot 3 and vertical panning in shot 4. All other shots are filmed by a fixed camera and, with the exception of the last one, use stylised stage sets. [1]
Bertram M. Gordon has noted that the film is an indication of the increasing popularity of Europe and the Mediterranean as a destination for American tourists at the beginning of the 20th century. [2]
The film has also been mentioned as one of the earliest parodic travelogues. [3] The comic effect is based on the clumsiness of the protagonist and on caricatural stereotypes of European nationalities. Jon Gartenberg has stressed the novelty of the camera movements, in particular the panorama of the waterfront from the departing ship. [4] The caricatural nature of the film has also been stressed by several authors, notably how "Irish stereotypical characters" are depicted during the first stop of the tourists in Europe [5] the way in which "a group of picturesquely dressed locals rob (the protagonist) during his visit to Pompeii", [6] or the energetic massage received at a German bath house. [7]
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