Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of the flowing cloth. She moves to her right and left across an unadorned stage. Many of the prints were distributed in hand-tinted color.
Danse serpentine is a historically landmark short film capturing Annabelle Moore's serpentine dance — one of the earliest examples of hand-tinted color film and a key document of early cinema's fascination with movement and spectacle. Novelty is exceptionally high: as a pioneering example of chromatic motion picture exhibition and a vivid record of a genuine performance art form of its era, it is singular and unmistakable. Cinematography earns above average for its time given the deliberate framing of the flowing skirt movement, which was the entire visual point. Acting/performance is modestly above average as Moore's dance is graceful and purposeful. Plot is essentially nonexistent — it is a pure filmed performance with no narrative. The ending is abrupt and unremarkable, as expected of the format.