Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
Year: 1906
Director: Edwin S. Porter
Country: US
Language: N/A

When cinema was short and silent much of their inspiration, surprisingly, came from comic strips. The popularity of trick and effects heavy pictures meant that if your comic was oddball and ripe with imagination that it would likely be produced into cinema. Winsor McCay, a pioneering cartoonist and animator, launched his strip in 1904. Edwin S. Porter, of Great Train Robbery fame, would use this material to create a hit.

A trippy movie, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend it's about a man who has a bad dream after consuming a large meal.

Director Edwin S. Porter was not comfortable with the star system that began to emerge with the dawn of the 1910s. He preferred the more technical aspect of film-making and thus made pictures that would require a lot of hands-on special effects work. Double exposures, miniatures and other camera trickery show that the man knew his craft and was able to be simultaneously creative and innovative. Few cinema-goers would have seen a picture like this.

Porter does a great job at imitating the look, tone and atmosphere of the original comic strips. Using a distinct style totally unlike the trick films of France and Britain, I found the camera perfectly emulated a sense of whimsy and wonder.  Dream of a Rarebit Fiend for the Edison studios, although there is no evidence to suggest it was the studios' biggest hit of that year. 

I liked this picture, and I'll certainly agree that it's one of the best pictures of early silent cinema. A fun film, I particularly enjoyed the part where the bed flies over the city, dragging our main character behind.