I’m not sure if this belongs in GQ or not. A friend of mine is in an sf & fantasy film class, and for some reason the prof showed them Fritz Lang’s “The Woman in the Window” (1945). This got her wondering about the “it was all a dream” ending; she asked me, but I’m no film geek. Does anyone know when it was first used in a movie?
and how can I tell her the answer without revealing my secret Doper identity?
The Wizard of Oz, perhaps? Maybe not the first, but it was before 1945.
I know it was used in Theda Bara’s Kathleen Mavourneen (1919), and I suspect it was a pretty old gag even at that time.
Well, The Wizard of Oz is one of the great “it was all just a dream” stories, and the first film version made from the Baum book was in 1910. There are likely earlier examples (I imagine Georges Méliès probably had a variation of this), but none come to mind right now.
Dunno about movies, but the convention in literature goes back * at least * to Alice in Wonderland, and I’m willing to bet that it was old and moldy even back then:
"At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face.
Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; Why, what a long sleep you’ve had!’
Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, It was a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it’s getting late.’ So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been. "
Wake up, Bob, dear!' said Suzanne Plechette; Why, what a long sleep you’ve had!’
`Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream!’ said Bob . . .
Wow.
Does a print exist of this or has it been lost forever?
Oh my. I think we have a winner.
Probably the best TV series finale ever.
And the only fresh take on this in the last 50 years that I can think of. Can anybody think of another?
Dunno. I saw one of Melies’s films in a college class, but I’m not sure it’s the same one. He made over 500 movies, and several of them were about lunar travel, so I may not have seen this particular one.
In any case, it doesn’t appear to be commercially available.
In the book, Dorthy’s trip to Oz was not just a dream. I do not think that all the film versions before 1939 used the it was all a dream device.
Yes, The Astronomer’s Dream survives today.
Another dream sequence from the same year: The Beggar’s Dream (1898), also by Georges Méliès. Followed by The Artist’s Dream (1899).
The first dream sequences in American movies (that I know of): The Artist’s Dream (1899), apparently a remake of the Méliès movie; and The Tramp’s Dream (1899).
In the 1925 Wizard of Oz, starring Larry Semon, it all turns out to be Dorothy’s dream.
Some other pre-1945 features with this gimmick:
Alice in Wonderland (1915)
A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court(1920)
Outward Bound (1930)
A Connecticut Yankee(1931)
Alice in Wonderland(1933)
I’d also submit that in the old “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio series, one of the story lines involved Amos’ being implicated in a murder. Well, actually, it happened twice that I know of, but in one of them, it was revealed that it (the implication of murder) had been a dream.
Well, I’d guess from the title that Astronomer’s Dream and Begger’s Dream etc it was made clear from the start that this is a dream. I also think the OP wants the first example where it-was-all-a-dream is the surprise twist at the end.
In Shoulder Arms Charlie Chaplin becomnes a soldier who goes behinfd enemy lines, captures the Kaiser and single-handedly wins the Great War. Then he wakes up, and he’s still in the trenches.
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream.
And how about that part at the end of the Bible no one ever gets to, where Jesus wakes up and it turns out it was all a dream?
(Mary is played by Suzanne Plechette)
…and it was a stroke of genius to cast Larry Daryll and Daryll as Peter Paul and Judas.
Didn’t the book of Alice in Wonderland End with it being a dream?