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“One of the first film stars, Annabelle made her debut at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. She was a featured performer on Broadway when she was filmed by Dickson in 1894. Her Serpentine and Butterfly Dances were so popular that Dickson filmed her again for the American Mutoscope in 1896.” – Paul SpehrRead More »
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In what is considered the first remake in cinema history, prolific French director Georges Méliès directs his first film, depicting a delightful afternoon among friends playing cards over a glass of beer.
It was the first film in Méliès’ prolific career, and thus is number one in his Star Film catalogue. It is a remake of Louis Lumière’s film The Messers. Lumière at Cards, which was released earlier the same year. Along with Georges Méliès himself, his brother Gaston Méliès and daughter Georgette Méliès also appear in the film.
The film, long presumed lost and was rediscovered after 1981Read More »
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A devil conjures up a dancing woman from a mystical flame.
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The Pillar of Fire was the first film to be based on H. Rider Haggard’s 1887 novel She: A History of Adventure. Rather than attempting to tell the whole story of the novel, Méliès used one of its characters as inspiration for a trick film, recalling the scene in the novel in which Ayesha stands amid flames. At least six other adaptations of She were made in the silent era.Read More »
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In a traditional “magician” attire, the wizard of illusion and jump cuts, Georges Méliès, says the magic words and conjures up wonders from a plain wooden box.
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Directed by Georges Méliès, the film features a wizard, a Pierrot, and a sculptor in a rapid series of substitution splices. The film is described as “another exercise in the art of the jump-cut,” in the tradition of Méliès’ earlier A Nightmare (Le Cauchemar, 1896) and The Haunted Castle (Le Château hanté, 1897).Read More »
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Much to our amazement, an elegant and masterful illusionist detaches his own head effortlessly from his shoulders for a once-in-a-lifetime performance.Read More »
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A man dressed in red is ushered into an antechamber in a Castle and offered a seat. When he tried to sit down the chair moves to the other side of the room causing the man to fall on the floor. Standing up he strides to the chair but on trying to lift it a Spector materializes in the chair, arises and challenges the man. The man pulls out his sword and lunges at the Spector but it changes into a skeleton. Seeing the change the man tried to grab the skeleton but it changes into an armor clad guard. The man attempts to move the guard but a devil appears and waves the man away. The man recoils from the devil and tries to leave but the Spector reappears. Both it and the devil frighten the man from the antechamber.Read More »
Catalogue Lumière wrote:
Vue N° 45
“Des enfants traînent leurs filets sur la plage à mer basse : les fillettes, les jupes relevées, rivalisent d’entrain avec les garçons dans cet exercice.”
– Un des personnages porte un panier sur lequel est inscrit “Shrimp” [crevette].- Une vue supplémentaire et non cataloguée représente le même sujet.
Thierry Frémaux commented and wrote:
Ce film a été tourné en été par Alexandre Promio qui fut l’un des plus grands opérateurs Lumière. La scène se passe sur une plage d’Angleterre en 1896. Pieds nus dans l’eau, sous le regard de leurs mères en habit, des enfants munis d’épuisettes pêchent des crevettes. Mais le vrai sujet du film, c’est sa beauté.Read More »
Although Georges Méliès’ The Conjuror (L’ Impressionniste fin de siècle) was was one of his earliest movies, it’s also an excellently realized example of Méliès’ basic style of cinematic magic.
The Conjuror revisits a scene that Méliès had explored before, and is basically a cinematic adaptation of the traditional magic trick “making the assistant disappear”. Méliès first presented this scene in his 1896 film The Vanishing Lady, which used simple camera stop-substitution to achieve the affect (no motion involved, and no in-camera dissolve). Méliès revisited the idea in his 1898 film The Magician, which made further use of the substitution effect, which by that time was only one of many effects that Méliès was using in his films.Read More »
