French filmmaker and pioneer of early cinema; director of short films including 'Par le trou de serrue'.

Worked for the Pathé company (Pathé Frères) and was active in early French cinema.

The review examines Zecca's 1901 short 'Par le trou de la serrure' as an early example of keyhole/point-of-view filming. It highlights voyeuristic tones and parody, and situates the film within early cinema's technological experiments. The reviewer rates the film low while noting its historical interest.

For:Early cinema enthusiasts, film students, scholars of silent/experimental film

 Before all this, that is, in 1901, there was “Par le trou de la serrure,” a French parody of keyhole films, a micro-genre (apparently famous and although overshadowed (see below), since a parody was already made) that depicted someone peeping through a keyhole, thus having strong voyeuristic tones, so much so that at the time, the so-called black evenings were organized, during which the keyholes had a pin-up theme, meaning behind the door there was always a girl undressing; present also in this parody only initially, as she reveals herself to be a he, thus horrifying the voyeurist with whom—and this is why I want to talk about it because in itself, the film isn't much nor does it aim to be—thanks to a gigantic cardboard keyhole placed on the camera, the viewer would experience one of the first examples of point-of-view imagery.

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