Danse serpentine par Mme. Bob Walter

Of course it is NOT a "remake" of the films made by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson for Edison and Mutoscope. It is just an umpteenth film copy of a stage act originated by icon of modern dance Loïe Fuller back in 1891. It was the dance sensation of the decade and versions were made by Max Skladowsky (perhaps the first), Dickson, Léar, the Lumières, Pathé and Gaumont and probably others as well (Sigmund Lubin probably performed it himself in drag and Leopoldo Fregoli certainly did). Loïe Fuller herself never appeared in a film. But if there was any copyright due it was to Fuller herself and not to any of the film-makers.

When the impersonator Little Pich made a film of the "big boots act" this was not a remake of the film made in 1900 of Little Tich performing the act, it was just a rip-off of the British comedian's stage-act. Ditto for Mme Walter.

At this point in the history of the movies, you could not copyright a film, so each of the production companies lifted the products from other companies..... and sometimes reshot them instead of simply taking the film into the lab and making a duplicate.

This, one of the earliest survivals of Alice Guy is, of course, a remake of the Edison film ANNABELLE SERPENTINE DANCE (1895), in which the young lady swirls a lot of drapery around herself. Much the same happens here, but this being a French film, we do get to see the the dancer's ankles. Not much of a difference, agreed. Of more importance is that tinted copies of the Edison version exist, while the copy I viewed is pure black and white.