The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

August 5, 2019

The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

As a young man, Claude Ballard was fascinated by moving pictures and takes a job as a representative for the Lumiere brothers, demonstrating and selling their cinematic equipment.  He went on to direct silent films and unexpectedly stopped after making his greatest film, "The Electric Hotel."  But the film is controversial, and he faces a legal challenge from Thomas Edison, who has patented the process of motion pictures and wants to be the sole creator and distributor (who knew Edison was such a bully?). 

Claude becomes reclusive, living at the shabby Knickerbocker Hotel in Los Angeles, his room filled with containers of decaying film, photographing people on the street and foraging the hills for mushrooms and herbs.  When a film student asks to interview him and discuss his lost masterpiece for his thesis, Claude admits that in fact he has a copy of the film, and it isn't lost at all.  He is forced to re-live his career and his relationship with his muse Sabine Montrose, his life unspooling like a reel of film.  While "The Electric Hotel" is considered to be his masterpiece, Claude eventually reveals the film that he considers to be his greatest work.

In many ways, The Electric Hotel is an interesting read, spanning about 70 years and filled with information about the early days of motion pictures.  But the pacing is slow and the story drags through the painful process of making a silent film.  Many of the characters were detached and distant - the stuntman Chip was the best character in the book.  I stopped halfway through and read a couple of other books, then went back to this one.  I'm glad I did, since the last hundred pages make up for the first two hundred pages.  But unless you are really into cinematic history, I wouldn't recommend this one.