The Fabulous Fraud

I always watch these short documentaries with a great deal of interest because it typically rouses enough curiosity in me to do my own research afterwards.

Such was this case.

I also found the documentary to be non-conclusive,though one might gather, from the title, that it is in the negative.

The most glaring error, however,in material is that the narrator and documentary has a grim, misty picture of an "unmarked" gravesite or obscure one at best, while after my research, discovered,though banished to Switzerland, Mesmer had a brisk practice there until his death.

Additionally, Germany has erected a huge sculpture honoring him in Meersburg, Germany where he died.

Sensationalistic claims not based in fact are a waste of time for me,although, as I said before the initial appeal of most documentaries myself is prompting me to do my own research.

It's MGM presents John Nesbitt's Passing Parade. It is 18th century Paris. Dr. Anton Mesmer runs his Clinic of Mesmerism. The narration suggests that he is a fraud. He treats the aristocratic class and their imagined illnesses. He does also treat the poorer classes. One such patient is a blind girl and through her, he discovers the power of hypnotism.

I don't know how much of this is true. Quite frankly, I have doubts about most of this material. So I can't claim this to be informative. As to its entertainment value, I can't find much of that here either. It is a rather flat telling of a biography.

Was he a healer or a fraud? We'll never know and this short subject gives no definitive answer.

It begins with Dr. Anton Mesmer (JOHN BARAGREY) shocking a wheelchair patient into walking when he splashes liquid into her startled face. She struggles to her feet, wanting to attack him, but he reminds her that she's walking--and she faints.

Thereafter, other cures with Mesmer's "kill or cure" approach--some successful, others not.

This is one in a series from John Nesbitt's "Passing Parade" and is certainly among the more curious looks at an historical figure from the 1800s. But it all leads to nothing, with no resolution even suggested.

Summing up: Not exactly mesmerizing.

This short, loosely based on a very small portion of the life of Dr. Franz Mesmer, is short on style, substance, and running time. Actually, very few facts are related here, and the desultory manner in which they are conveyed do nothing to help this very short short.

While not exactly the inventor of hypnotism, his social impact was of such an extent that the word "mesmerized" is derived from his name. The Fabulous Fraud is not a well made, or acted, documentary short, but at a mercifully crisp 11 minute running time it's still pretty difficult to get up a head of angry before the thing is over.

Another one of the little "space filler" numbers run on TCM in the early morning hours, these shorts are still fun to watch strictly for the "What the hell is this?" oddness of it.

The Fabulous Fraud (1948)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Nice entry in John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series. This episode takes a look at the life and death of Dr. Anton Mesmer, the man who helped discovery hypnotism by accident and then took it to the history books. The main focus of this short is to show that Mesmer ended up taking a lot of grief for his discovery and exactly what happened to him during his final years are somewhat of a mystery. If you're looking for a complete and up-to-date documentary on Mesmer then you're certainly not going to find it here but I think fans of the series should at least be entertained with these 9-minutes. I think the best thing going for the film is its rather dark atmosphere created by Edward L. Cahn. While watching the film you also feel as if you're watching a Universal horror film from this era due to all the thick fog, which just helps with the atmosphere. The performances are also quite good and as you'd expect the narration from Nesbitt is top-notch.