“The Attempt against the Life of Maître Labori” is the seventh film in the series. It begins with Maitre Labori, Alfred Dreyfus’s lawyer, along with Colonel Georges Picquart, the man who discovered that Esterhazy was the traitor and not Dreyfus, and M. Gast the Mayor of Rennes. There also is an unknown woman accompanying the trio. The group is walking near a bridge, where they stop for to have a chat, and the woman leaves them. A lurking man creeps up behind them, acting suspiciously. The trio seem to notice this gruesome man, but they pay him no heed and continue with their talk. The men turn around to walk across the bridge, but the man pulls out a concealed gun and shoots Maitre Labori twice in the back. The shooter runs away, hotly followed by Colonel Picquart and the mayor. Labori has fallen down to the ground in agony and writhes in pain. Labori tries to get help from people who pass by, but they fail to notice him. This is almost comical because it would seem apparent that someone would notice if a man was on the floor calling for help. Finally a third person comes by, notices him and rushes to his aid and calls for more people to help, and a few people respond.
The assassination attempt occurred one week after Dreyfus’s second trial began. Fortunately the wounds were not mortal, in fact they were not even that serious and Maitre was back on his feet in less than two weeks. One interesting thing to note is that it is possible that Melies is the player of the assassin. Is there anything he can’t do?
The film which follows this one is “The Fight of Reporters.” It starts off with perhaps a dozen men in the stereotypical news reporter hat all shaking hands amiably. Soon however a fight breaks out and everyone get involved. However once the guards get involved many flea and those who do not are kicked out.
Whats was interesting about this film is the breaking of the fourth wall. The reporters run to and past the camera. This clip also demonstrates the fierceness with which people were sided into the Dreyfusard and Anti-Dreyfusard camps. This film seems the most like it was taken at the actual time in place instead of being a reenactment.
