Fifty Before ’50: Four by Méliès

 by JB

A few (extremely) short subjects for a boring Tuesday morning.

George Méliès is, by popular acclaim, the father of fantastic cinema. Born to a wealthy family in 1861, he eschewed his family’s boot business for a life in the theater. He invented dozens of illusions for the Theater Robert-Houdin in Paris, named for the French magician who would later supply young American Eric Weiss with his “nom de magic.” Méliès eventually bought the theater.

In 1895, he attended the Lumiere Brothers’ first public film exhibition. The Lumieres refused to sell Méliès a camera and projector, so Méliès travelled to London and persuaded Robert Paul to sell him the equipment he needed. The theater Robert-Houdin soon started showing short film programs between magic acts; most of the films directed by Méliès himself. Méliès was prolific: he made 78 short films in 1896 and 52 in 1897. He continued to make films until 1912 when a bad confluence of events essentially ended his film career.

Today, only about 200 of 500 Méliès's films still exist. Méliès destroyed most of his original negatives, thinking them worthless; the French army confiscated many of his prints during WWI; and the delicate nitrate film was subject to deterioration and fire. The majority of Méliès’ films that were preserved can be found at the Library of Congress. Méliès’ brother Gaston submitted paper prints of each frame of the “Star Films” in order to preserve copyright when he set up an American branch in 1902.

Gugusse and the Automaton (1897)

This one is the star of the show. Long thought lost forever, it resurfaced just this April and was restored by the Library of Congress. Besides being a hoot, it is the first example of a robot on film in cinema history. NOTE: Many is the day I wish I had a big sledgehammer like the one Méliès wields in the film.



Four Troublesome Heads (1898)

Yes, it seems at times that Méliès was in love with the head, specifically his own. In this film and in others like 1901’s The Man with the Rubber Head, the chief action of the film revolves around magic with the director’s own noggin. Strange.

NOTE: I love how the background music here is played on a banjo, as Méliès himself is shown playing/wielding a banjo here when his strange quartet starts singing.



The Mermaid (1904)

More magic shows. My one quibble with Méliès is that, although his films got longer and more elaborate, he never really progressed as a filmmaker. The camera is always in the fifth-row center; he is always simply duplicating the theatrical experience. He never tires of making objects and people disappear and change into other people and objects, as in a magic show. Still, its impressive that his audience never tired of these “old tricks” for some fifteen years. NOTE: The mermaid presented here longs to be part of your world.



Satan in Prison (1907)

Not the most entertaining of Méliès’ trick films, but this one rounds out our program simply because of its odd title. NOTE: That is not the actual Satan in the film. It is an actor. Enjoy.