The Electric Hotel

Posted on by

From the New York Times bestselling author Dominic Smith, a radiant novel tracing the intertwined fates of a silent film director and his museDominic Smith s The Electric Hotel winds through the nascent days of cinema in Paris and Fort Lee, New Jersey America s first movie town and on the battlefields of Belgium during World War I A sweeping work of historical fiction, it shimmers between past and present as it tells the story of the rise and fall of a prodigious film studio and one man s doomed obsession with all that passes in front of the viewfinder.For nearly half a century, Claude Ballard has been living at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel A French pioneer of silent films, who started out as a concession agent for the Lumi re brothers, the inventors of cinema, Claude now spends his days foraging mushrooms in the hills of Los Angeles and taking photographs of runaways and the striplings along Sunset Boulevard But when a film history student comes to interview Claude about The Electric Hotel the lost masterpiece that bankrupted him and ended the career of his muse, Sabine Montrose the past comes surging back In his run down hotel suite, the ravages of the past are waiting to be excavated celluloid fragments and reels in desperate need of restoration, and Claude s memories of the woman who inspired and beguiled him. Download The Electric Hotel – kino-fada.fr Dominic Smith has written a fascinating account of the early days of film, borrowing his title from that of a recently rediscovered and restored silent film from 1908 Through his main character, French photographer Claude Ballard, he recalls Claude s early life making very short moving image strips for the Lumiere brothers, travelling around the world showing these to packed theatres Popular strips were one of a falling cat, a stuntman on fire diving into the sea at a Sydney beach and later a Dominic Smith has written a fascinating account of the early days of film, borrowing his title from that of a recently rediscovered and restored silent film from 1908 Through his main character, French photographer Claude Ballard, he recalls Claude s early life making very short moving image strips for the Lumiere brothers, travelling around the world showing these to packed theatres Popular strips were one of a falling cat, a stuntman on fire diving into the sea at a Sydney beach and later a beautiful actress, Sabine Montrose, taking a bath Now an elderly resident of a shabby Hollywood hotel with a roomful of canisters containing ancient decaying silent films, he tells his story to a young student of film, in par...The Electric Hotel is a love letter to an earlier time, not necessarily an easier time, but the early years of film, a time of adventure, excitement, exploration, wild success and horrible failure Also a time of new techniques, new materials and much thinking on one s feet It is also a love letter to the friends, partners and lovers who were part of that glorious, difficult, wondrous time, the people who shared the victories and defeats of the early film era.The novel centers on Claude Ballard The Electric Hotel is a love letter to an earlier time, not necessarily an easier time, but the early years of film, a time of adventure, excitement, exploration, wild success and horrible failure Also a time of new techniques, new materials and much thinking on one s feet It is also a love letter to the friends, partners and lovers who were part of that glorious, difficult, wondrous time, the people who shared the victories and defeats of the early film era.The novel centers on Claude Ballard who has been living in the same Los Angeles hotel for some 50 years, a man who never leaves his room without a camera, a man who has been filming life since he met the Lumiere Brothers in Paris in the late 19th century One day, in 1962, he agrees to meet with a film student who would like to learn about his life The result is what unspools here before us as a history of film, the world and Claude in bo...Goodreads giveaway winmy SECOND goodreads win of the year after a very disappointing first six months, maybe my luck is finally turningClaude Ballard, is an eighty five year old man at the beginning of this story He is waiting for Martin Embry, a film buff and historian who wants to learn about Claude s career as one of the early exponents of the silent film industry From this meeting between the two men in 1962, the story retraces the scenes to show how Claude came to start off in the film profession and the influences along the way It also tells the story of his love for the actress Sabine Montrose, who became his muse Bu Claude Ballard, is an eighty five year old man at the beginning of this story He is waiting for Martin Embry, a film buff and historian who wants to learn about Claude s career as one of the early exponents of the silent film industry From this meeting between the two men in 1962, the story retraces the scenes to show how Claude came to start off in the film profession and the influences along the way It also tells the story of his love for the actress Sabine Montrose, who became his muse But Martin also wants to know what happened to Claude s last film The Electric Hotel I had really been looking forward to this book after reading Dominic Smith s earlier book, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos I expected this one to be an interesting read and in many ways it is, filled with a lot of fascinating information about the early silent film industry There is no doubt it has entailed a great deal of research and...Claude Ballard has been living in the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel for almost half a century His suite is crammed with rapidly deteriorating film reels and other memorabilia from his days as a lauded silent film director and cameraman When a PhD candidate in film history comes to interview Claude about his lost masterpiece The Electric Hotel, Claude reflects on his twin obsessions moving pictures and the actress, Sabine Montrose.Moving from Paris in 1895, when the Lumi re brothers first reve Claude Ballard has been living in the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel for almost half a century His suite is crammed with rapidly deteriorating film reels and other memorabilia from his days as a lauded silent film director and cameraman When a PhD candidate in film history comes to interview Claude about his lost masterpiece The Electric Hotel, Claude reflects on his twin obsessions moving pictures and the actress, Sabine Montrose.Moving from Paris in 1895, when the Lumi re brothers first revealed their cinematic invention, to Fort Lee NJ, the epicentre of America s burgeoning film industry in the early 1900s, and then on to Belgium and Andorra during the Great War, Claude s story reveals the highs and lows of both his professional and pe...When I ask a man what he s reading, usually the answer is history I know this sounds sexist, but men gravitatein that direction and feel a deeper interest in history, and Dominic Smith is a prime example His works are evidence of dedicated research, and his books bring the past to life that gives his tales contemporary immediacy whether they re set the 17th century Amsterdam of Sara deVos or here in The Electric Hotel, set in the early cinematic days of the Lumiere Brothers and in turn When I ask a man what he s reading, usually the answer is history I know this sounds sexist, but men gravitatein that direction and feel a deeper interest in history, and Dominic Smith is a prime example His works are evidence of dedicated research, and his books bring the past to life that gives his tales contemporary immediacy whether they re set the 17th century Amsterdam of Sara deVos or here in The Electric Hotel, set in the early cinematic days of the Lumiere Brothers and in turn of the century New York Although these are the only two books of his that I have read, it seems that many of his novels concern the creative process, whether it s painting, daguerreotypes, and in this case, the moving image His characters both factual and representative, inhabit the pages, making for an exciting, immersive read When his focus shifts to the German invasion...The Electric Hotel was the title of a very ambitious silent movie made by the director Claude Ballard, his muse and actress Sabine Montrose, stuntman Chip Spaulding and the producer and impresario Hal Bender It was longer than any previous movie and included a tiger and dangerous special effects Unfortunately, it encountered legal problems that prevented its circulation Most of this book is a flashback describing Claude s experiences in the early days of the movie business, including the maki The Electric Hotel was the title of a very ambitious silent movie made by the director Claude Ballard, his muse and actress Sabine Montrose, stuntman Chip Spaulding and the producer and impresario Hal Bender It was longer than any previous movie and included a tiger and dangerous special effects Unfortunately, it encountered legal problems that prevented its circulation Most of this book is a flashback describing Claude s experiences in the early days of the movie business, including the making of The Electric Hotel I thought that this book started off very slowly and I was tempted to abandon it because I wa...The Electric Hotel is the fifth novel by award winning Australian born author, Dominic Smith For over thirty years, semi reclusive French cinematic genius, Claude Ballard has kept a suite at Hollywood s Knickerbocker Hotel, a suite filled with film and memorabilia, but it s not until 1962 that he consents a request by aspiring film historian, Martin Embry to discuss his life When Martin is invited into Claude s suite, he is assaulted by the vinegar smell and demonstrates to Claude how his prec The Electric Hotel is the fifth novel by award winning Australian born author, Dominic Smith For over thirty years, semi reclusive French cinematic genius, Claude Ballard has kept a suite at Hollywood s Knickerbocker Hotel, a suite filled with film and memorabilia, but it s not until 1962 that he consents a request by aspiring film historian, Martin Embry to discuss his life When Martin is invited into Claude s suite, he is assaulted by the vinegar smell and demonstrates to Claude how his precious archive of celluloid is ...To be reviewed over at Fresh Fiction

The Electric Hotel
  • 02 March 2017
  • ebook
  • 352 pages
  • 0374719691
  • Dominic Smith
  • The Electric Hotel