AllMovie

Every bit as cool, or maybe more so, to the audiences of 1909 as The Matrix is to the modern moviegoer, Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy still has the power to surprise and delight. Nearly every shot in the film is a special effect of one sort or another. The nominal plot consists of the Smoker (Paul Panzer) falling asleep, only to have his rest disturbed by two tiny visitors. This provides a framework for the special effects. We see the Smoker asleep in his chair and the fairies emerge onto the table near him. Many of the shots are designed to show the diminutive fairies contrasted against and interacting with much larger objects. The innovative techniques of Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy were celebrated in scientific journals and thus were made available to others experimenting with filmed visual tricks. A part of what's fun about Princess Nicotine today is to watch and try to figure out how the amazing shots were created while limited to early cinematic technology.