During the 1900s, the French company Pathé Frères was famous for its coloured-in adaptations of fairytales, mainly from the French writer Charles Perrault: Le chat botté/Puss in Boots, La belle au bois dormant/Sleeping Beauty, Le petit poucet/Tom Thumb, Barbe-bleue/Bluebird, Cendrillon/ Cinderella, Le petit chaperon rouge/Little Red Riding Hood, and Peau d'âne/Donkeyskin. Georges Méliès started these fairytale films in France before 1900 with Cendrillon (1899), while from 1910 Gaumont would also film a few fairytales.
Today and next week, we will present at EFSP the Pathé Frères versions of Le chat botté/Puss in Boots and La belle au bois dormant/Sleeping Beauty with beautiful hand-coloured cards by Croissant. Strangely enough, the third postcard of Le chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908) refers to another film version, Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Lucien Nonguet, 1903). Both film versions still exist and can be viewed on Youtube: Le chat botté/Puss in Boots (Lucien Nonguet, 1903) and
Le chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). In the 1908 version, the miller's son, later the Marquis of Carabas, is played by a woman.
![Le chat botté (1908)]()
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908), based on the fairytale by Charles Perrault (1697). Caption: A miller had three sons.
![Le chat botté (1908)]()
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: The youngest only inherited the cat.
![Le chat botté (1903)]()
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Lucien Nonguet, 1903) with Bretteau and Edmond Boutillon. Caption: The King rescuing the Marquis of Carabas.
The first Pathé adaptation of Le chat botté was done in 1903 by Lucien Nonguet (some sources write: in collaboration with Ferdinand Zecca). The actor Bretteau played the cat, while Edmond Boutillon was also acting in the film (the miller's son?). The film appeared in Pathé 9th series of Féerie & Contes. It had seven 'tableaux': 1. Dividing the Inheritance. The Father's death. 2. Puss in Boots consoles his master. 3. The cat goes hunting. 4. Sham drowning. 5. Visit to the Marquis of Carabas's estate. 6. The Ogres castle, the cat surprises him. 7. Betrothed. Apotheosis.
The film opens with a remarkably deep space of the "outdoor" (studio) setting of the miller's house, with real chicken added. Not only the cat but also the rabbits caught by the cat, the ghosts called up by the ogre, and the ogre changed into a lion, were all played by adult or child actors. At the ogre's castle, some gruesome moments of children being sacrificed are shown, while trapdoors open to show the ghosts of the murdered. The sets were by Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn, while some of the takes were really long.
The colouring of the film happened at the lab of Segundo De Chomon in Barcelona. A print of the film was restored by the Cinemateca de Catalunya. In contrast to other fairytale films, the almost obligatory dance scene takes place, not at the end but halfway through the plot, after the 'Marquis' is saved and the cat has instigated the farmers to praise the marquis in the presence of the King. A farmers' dance follows. The film ends with an apotheosis of a kind of audience given by the king and the young couple at the top of a grand staircase (many people attend), with children mounting the stairs.
In 1908 the second version by Albert Capellani was made. Here the actors are unknown, but what the viewer strikes is that young miller's son (and later on the marquis) is played by a woman. She, therefore, doesn't strip off all of her clothes during the fake drowning and even keeps her wig on. Also, at the ogre's castle, we see a real lion conjured up by the ogre, while the film alternated the interiors in the studio with some remarkable real outdoor images of e.g. the mill, the drowning scene in the woods, and the locals in the fields praising the Marquis of Carabas (on the instigation of the cat), contrasting with the flat backgrounds of the 1903 version, all shot in the studio.
Indeed, this craving for real exteriors happens more often in the fairytale films by Capellani, using e.g. the castle of Pierrefonds for his version of La belle au bois dormant. At the end of Capellani's Le chat botté, an element of deep staging is added when a curtain in the castle opens where the royal guests have their banquet in the back. In the last shot, the apotheosis: after a dance scene (common in fairytale films), the cat is honoured with a medal. The film was restored by Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.
![Le chat botté (1908)]()
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Long live the Marquis of Carabas!
![Le chat botté (1908)]()
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Caption: He married the princess.
See also Fondation Jerome Seydoux-Pathé, which lists the same five postcards we have in our collection.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908), based on the fairytale by Charles Perrault (1697). Caption: A miller had three sons.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: The youngest only inherited the cat.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Lucien Nonguet, 1903) with Bretteau and Edmond Boutillon. Caption: The King rescuing the Marquis of Carabas.
A craving for real exteriors
The first Pathé adaptation of Le chat botté was done in 1903 by Lucien Nonguet (some sources write: in collaboration with Ferdinand Zecca). The actor Bretteau played the cat, while Edmond Boutillon was also acting in the film (the miller's son?). The film appeared in Pathé 9th series of Féerie & Contes. It had seven 'tableaux': 1. Dividing the Inheritance. The Father's death. 2. Puss in Boots consoles his master. 3. The cat goes hunting. 4. Sham drowning. 5. Visit to the Marquis of Carabas's estate. 6. The Ogres castle, the cat surprises him. 7. Betrothed. Apotheosis.
The film opens with a remarkably deep space of the "outdoor" (studio) setting of the miller's house, with real chicken added. Not only the cat but also the rabbits caught by the cat, the ghosts called up by the ogre, and the ogre changed into a lion, were all played by adult or child actors. At the ogre's castle, some gruesome moments of children being sacrificed are shown, while trapdoors open to show the ghosts of the murdered. The sets were by Vincent Lorant-Heilbronn, while some of the takes were really long.
The colouring of the film happened at the lab of Segundo De Chomon in Barcelona. A print of the film was restored by the Cinemateca de Catalunya. In contrast to other fairytale films, the almost obligatory dance scene takes place, not at the end but halfway through the plot, after the 'Marquis' is saved and the cat has instigated the farmers to praise the marquis in the presence of the King. A farmers' dance follows. The film ends with an apotheosis of a kind of audience given by the king and the young couple at the top of a grand staircase (many people attend), with children mounting the stairs.
In 1908 the second version by Albert Capellani was made. Here the actors are unknown, but what the viewer strikes is that young miller's son (and later on the marquis) is played by a woman. She, therefore, doesn't strip off all of her clothes during the fake drowning and even keeps her wig on. Also, at the ogre's castle, we see a real lion conjured up by the ogre, while the film alternated the interiors in the studio with some remarkable real outdoor images of e.g. the mill, the drowning scene in the woods, and the locals in the fields praising the Marquis of Carabas (on the instigation of the cat), contrasting with the flat backgrounds of the 1903 version, all shot in the studio.
Indeed, this craving for real exteriors happens more often in the fairytale films by Capellani, using e.g. the castle of Pierrefonds for his version of La belle au bois dormant. At the end of Capellani's Le chat botté, an element of deep staging is added when a curtain in the castle opens where the royal guests have their banquet in the back. In the last shot, the apotheosis: after a dance scene (common in fairytale films), the cat is honoured with a medal. The film was restored by Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Long live the Marquis of Carabas!
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3667. Photo: Film Pathé. Scene from Le Chat botté/Puss in Boots (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption: Caption: He married the princess.
See also Fondation Jerome Seydoux-Pathé, which lists the same five postcards we have in our collection.