Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
Dreams were a common subject back in the early days of movies and usually the films looked like there is a perfect wonderful moment at first for the protagonist, but then he wakes up next to his hideous wife. Same goes for this one. Sadly, for the hero, it happens the very moment when he is about to kiss the stunning girl from early on. Actually, the hideous wife in this one almost looks like a guy in the end. A bit of an odd film. Unfortunately, there is no real creativity in here as this was done many times before. Still not a bad film by any means. At least the ending was somewhat entertaining. The director here is Ferdinand Zecca, also a French silent film pioneer, but not half as famous as Méliès and Lumière. All in all, not recommended.
JoeytheBrit
As others have noted, this is an early example of an exact copy of one studio's film being made by another - in this case, the French giants Pathe Frere rip-off British filmmaker George Albert Smith. It was a common practice back in the early days of cinema when film-making was subject to even more piracy than the internet is today.The film itself is quite amusing - in fact it is probably slightly better than the original thanks to a much brisker pace, and a prettier girl in the first scene which makes for a funnier contrast with the old hag (who is probably a man in drag) in the second. It's certainly still quite amusing even today, nearly 110 years later.
bob the moo
An old man flirts with a pretty young woman and gets very amorous, only for the reality of his situation to become horribly apparent to him! This is a very simple French film with one gag to deliver and a short time to do it in. The joke is not that funny mainly because the manner of delivery of the punch line is not great. It feels rushed and without any attention to the characters reactions etc, as if the explanation would be enough without any other touches. Technically I didn't think it did a good job of moving from dream to reality. The UK silent short "Let Me Dream Again" did the same thing the year before but it used (for the first time) the camera going out of focus and back again to mark the shift between dream and reality. It also had a better delivery of the punch line as it didn't cut off so quickly.Not really worth a look then apart from being of interest to see film makers play with dream sequences in the early days – effects we all take for granted now but were being thought up right here.
MartinHafer
It just so happens that the same night I watched this very early silent short, I also watched a film by George Albert Smith that was made one year earlier--entitled "Let Me Dream Again". And, low and behold, the two films were nearly 100% identical!! This film (Rêve et réalité) was definitely not inspired from Smith's--it was a complete rip-off---being a wonderful example of early plagiarism. This was not a unique thing, as there were so many tiny studios in the early days and copying others' films wasn't unusual. But, in this case it's more than re-making the other film--it's stealing it.Regardless of the spotty pedigree, this still is a pretty funny film. It features an old guy making out with a pretty young lady--and it all turns out to be too good to be true. This is one of the few early films that still will get you to laugh today--no small accomplishment.
