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Decades before the term "special effects" was coined, audiences of the newborn cinema were witnessing spectacular screen illusions, courtesy of the medium's first master magician: Georges Melies. Melies' astounding employment of double exposure, makeup, editing and theatrical trickery still command the power to surprise and bewilder and can now be seen for the first time with crystal clarity in fifteen beautifully restored films, accompanied by newly composed scores. Includes the documentary "Georges Melies: Cinema Magician," plus the Melies shorts "An Impossible Voyage" (struck from an original hand-colored negative), "The Black Imp," "The Cook in Trouble," "The Living Playing Cards," and 11 more!
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Melies is fabulous!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Landmarks of Early Film 2: The Magic of Melies (DVD)
For my money one of the most underrated filmmakers in history, Melies' movies are a joy to watch. It's true you don't see the sophistication in film style that D.W. Griffith brought to his movies, but for anyone who today understands what the expression "film magic" means, Melies is the one who started it all. Not all of the films on this disk are completely captivating, but they certainly capture someone playing around with different ways to perform film magic and entertain an audience. Although his "voyage to the moon" is well placed in volume 1 of the "landmarks" series, along with other important early films, it is missed here. I can't say for certain because I AM a fan, but some may not enjoy this DVD as much because it is so heavy on Melies' shorter pieces (there is only one longer film in here, and for me it is a highlight). The short pieces can be fun, but I don't think they necessarily show Melies at his best - telling a complete, if totally whimsical and fantastic story.
4.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful introduction to the work of a film pioneer,
By audrey (white mtns) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Landmarks of Early Film 2: The Magic of Melies (DVD)
Between 1896 and 1912, Georges Melies produced over 500 films. Fifteen of them are found here, along with a twenty minute documentary about Melies. The documentary is unusual, told as a first person narrative with other voices occasionally reminiscing about Georges as a boy, etc. As I say, it is unusual but interesting, and we learn that Monsieur Melies' parents allowed him to leave the family shoe factory so that he could pursue his own different drummer. He became a magician and actor, later falling in love with the Lumiere brothers' cinematographe; unable to buy a Lumiere machine, he invented his own combination camera-projector and began showing his films at carnivals and fairs. After making many films, Melies finished his life running a toy shop with an old flame.If the Lumieres were the first film documentarians, Melies was the first film wizard, and these fifteen examples of his work are still a pleasure to watch. Magnificently preserved and restored, they look fabulous and are entertaining almost one hundred years later. The films found here are: The Impossible Voyage; The Untamable Whiskers; The Cook in Trouble; Tchin-chao, the Chinese Conjurer; The Wonderful Living Fan; The Mermaid; The Living Playing Cards; The Black Imp; The Enchanted Sedan Chair; The Scheming Gambler's Paradise; The Hilarious Posters; The Mysterious Retort; The Eclipse; Good Glue Sticks; and Long Distance Wireless Photography. Melies' best known work, A Trip to the Moon (1902), is not here, but on the Landmarks of early Film, Volume 1, collection.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Astounding.,
By Chip Kaufmann (Asheville, N.C. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Landmarks of Early Film 2: The Magic of Melies (DVD)
It has been over one hundred years since Georges Melies first began making movies. He was a true pioneer in every sense of the word. He invented his own camera and projector and built his own studio so that he could have complete control over what he was doing. His use of nudity in 1897 created a scandal and some of his films had very unhappy endings. I bring this up only to illustrate the old French proverb "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Of the hundreds of films that he made it's the trick films as he called them that he is best remembered for. It was in these that Melies developed the art of special effects. Double exposures, dissolves, and stop motion animation were used and refined to create films that even today are truly astounding. Even people who aren't film buffs are familiar with his 1902 A TRIP TO THE MOON (which is not included in this anthology. It's in LANDMARKS OF EARLY FILM, VOLUME 1). The shot of the rocket hitting the Moon in the eye is one of the most famous in film history. What makes this collection so valuable are the 15 short films presented in virtually mint condition that allow us to sample the genius of Melies 100 years later. While they are all fascinating and entertaining, there is a block of four in a row beginning with TCHIN-CHAO, THE CHINESE CONJURER through THE LIVING PLAYING CARDS that show off Melies at his best. There is even a short documentary GEORGE MELIES: CINEMA MAGICIAN that gives a brief look at his life and work which opens the set although the credits don't appear until the end of the DVD. I would have left the documentary at the end of the presentation as on the VHS edition. This not only puts the credits where they belong but doesn't give away the secrets until after the shorts are finished. The musical accompaniment by Alexander Rannie is ideal and enhances the magic of these enchanting films. They may be 100 years old but true magic remains timeless.
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