This film is part of Free

Dancer's Dream

A ballerina enjoys a fantastical dance

Fantasy 1905 3 mins Silent


'Trick' films were often structured around a dream, in imitation of scenes from pantomimes. Characters were transformed - in this case by falling asleep in a cosy armchair in front of the fire - and transported through a series of elaborate and sometimes fantastical settings, before returning to the 'real' world. Our young heroine finds herself beneath the sea, in the frozen Arctic and a fiery inferno, before waking to find her shoe on fire from a falling piece of coal.

The original film was tinted appropriately: green for the sea, red for Hell.