Tag: Georges Méliès

The Impossible Voyage (1904)

The Impossible Voyage (1904). 20 minutes. Directed by Georges Méliès. Starring Georges Méliès, Fernande Albany, and Jehanne d’Alcy.

Much like Georges Méliès’ 1902 silent short film A Trip to the Moon, the 1904 Méliès film The Impossible Voyage focuses on a group of proto-astronauts who plot to ascend to the heavens and explore the universe. As an adventure film and trick film, The Impossible Voyage clearly grows out of its sister attraction in terms of the earlier movie’s technological feats and focus on exploration. In the case of the 1904 film, however, the explorers land on the sun rather than the moon, do not encounter adversaries there, and end up journeying through the ocean in addition to the sky. Moreover, in comparison with A Trip to the Moon, The Impossible Voyage especially causes us to examine the character and ambitions of daring interstellar adventurers as they push forward, hell-bent on conquering the heavens; their at times reckless behavior … Read the rest

The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)

The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903). 17 minutes. Directed by Georges Méliès. Starring Georges Méliès and Bleuette Bernon.

Together with A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904), The Kingdom of the Fairies is one of Georges Méliès’s most impressive silent short films. The story is of the variety that Méliès loved, involving an epic journey, fierce magical creatures, and a grand final spectacle with a parade. The plot, which is fairly simple, is enhanced by the beautiful and inventive visuals that Méliès incorporates throughout the film, and the movie as a whole functions as a kind of catalogue of the various special effects that Méliès was fond of using. Its elaborate sets and complex techniques are fascinating, and overall the film is one of Méliès’s best.

The movie begins in a royal palace with a prince and princess, whose betrothal ceremony we witness. An evil male witch materializes in the middle of the court, menaces the … Read the rest

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

A Trip to the Moon (1902). 16 minutes. Directed by Georges Méliès. Starring Georges Méliès (as Professor Barbenfouillis); Bleuette Bernon (as Phoebe); François Lallement (as officer of the marines); Henri Delanney (as captain of the rocket); Jule-Eugène Legris (as parade leader); Victor André, Delpierre, Farjaux, Kelm, and Brunnet (as astronomers); Ballet of the Théâtre du Châtelet (as stars and cannon attendants); and the acrobats of the Folies Bergère (as Selenites). Written and produced by Georges Méliès.

A Trip to the Moon is without a doubt one of the most iconic movies ever made. Fritz Kramer has argued that the film’s moon, which is styled as a human face, is so famous that it “is instantly recognizable even to people who have never seen a single silent film.” The movie is based on the Jules Verne novels From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Around the Moon (1870), as well as H. G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon … Read the rest