Georges Méliès
Also Known As: Жорж Мельес, 조르주 멜리에스, Marie Georges Jean Méliès, ジョルジュ・メリエス, マリー・ジョルジュ・ジャン・メリエス
Biography: Georges Méliès (December 9, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come. A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician". Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896). In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: Paris, France
Adult: No
Birthday: December 09, 1861
Age: 163 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: January 21, 1938
Popularity:
Known For:
A Trip to the Moon
Overview: Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.
Genres: Adventure Science Fiction
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-06-15
Popularity:
The Impossible Voyage
Overview: Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.
Genres: Adventure Comedy Fantasy Science Fiction
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-11-10
Popularity:
The Cook in Trouble
Overview: A cook has his hands full with three mischievous devils, who pop in and out of his kitchen.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-05-06
Popularity:
Cinematógrafo 1900
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: es
Release Date: 1979-11-25
Popularity:
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
Overview: The extraordinary life of cinema pioneer Segundo de Chomón.
Genres: Documentary Animation Comedy
Original Language: es
Release Date: 2014-11-30
Popularity:
The Untamable Whiskers
Overview: The background of this picture represents a scene along the beautiful river Seine in Paris. A gentleman enters, and taking a blackboard from the side of the picture, he draws on it a sketch of a novelist. Then, standing in the centre, he causes the living features of his sketch to appear in the place of his own, which is utterly devoid of whiskers. The change is made so mysteriously that the eye cannot notice it until one sees quite another person in the place of the first. Again another sketch is shown on the board, this one being that of a miser; then an English cockney; a comic character; a French policeman, and last of all, the grinning visage of Mephistopheles. It is almost impossible to give this film a more definite description; suffice it to say that it is something entirely new in motion pictures and is sure to please. (Méliès Catalog)
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-02-05
Popularity:
The Living Playing Cards
Overview:
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-01-06
Popularity:
The Infernal Cauldron
Overview: A green-skinned demon places a woman and two courtiers into a flaming cauldron.
Genres: Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-08-01
Popularity:
The One-Man Band
Overview: A band-leader has arranged seven chairs for the members of his band. When he sits down in the first chair, a cymbal player appears in the same chair, then rises and sits in the next chair. As the cymbal player sits down, a drummer appears in the second chair, and then likewise moves on to the third chair. In this way, an entire band is soon formed, and is then ready to perform.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
The Four Troublesome Heads
Overview: One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1898-11-30
Popularity:
A Midnight Episode
Overview: A sleeping apartment of a friend who retires for the night. The rays of the moon are shining upon the bed through the window. He is suddenly awakened by a bug of gigantic proportions crawling over him. This he attacks and destroys, but before again retiring he notices three more climbing up the wall. He lights the candle and applies the flame to each, causing them to explode with fine smoke effect. After this slaughter he retires in contentment and soon sleeps the sleep of the just. A very funny subject.
Genres: Comedy Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
Joan of Arc
Overview: A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-08-06
Popularity:
Faust and Marguerite
Overview: Mephistopheles demands that Faust kill Marguerite.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1897-01-01
Popularity:
A Terrible Night
Overview: A man tries to get a good night's sleep, but is disturbed by a giant spider that leaps onto his bed, and a battle ensues in hilarious comic fashion.
Genres: Comedy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-01-01
Popularity:
The Vanishing Lady
Overview: Georges Méliès makes a woman disappear, then reappear.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-01-01
Popularity:
The Haunted Castle
Overview: A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1897-01-01
Popularity:
The Astronomer's Dream
Overview: An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1898-01-01
Popularity:
Cinderella
Overview: A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.
Genres: Drama Family Fantasy Romance
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-10-01
Popularity:
The Indian Sorcerer
Overview: A sorcerer turns a small egg into a bigger one and keeps repeating this trick until the egg is large enough to do other things including delivering children.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1908-01-19
Popularity:
The Conquest of the Pole
Overview: A science fantasy film that deals with an extraordinary race to the north pole by rival parties of balloonists. Based on the novel "The Adventures of Captain Hatteras" by Jules Verne.
Genres: Adventure Comedy Science Fiction
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1912-05-03
Popularity:
The Wandering Jew
Overview: A Jew who mocked Jesus on the cross is visited by a devil and an angel.
Genres: Fantasy Drama History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-11-25
Popularity:
The Haunted Castle
Overview: In a medieval castle, a dark magician thought to be Mephistopheles conjures up a series of bizarre creatures and events in order to torment a pair of interloping cavaliers.
Genres: Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-12-24
Popularity:
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
Overview: A look back at the life, style and influences of the famed filmmaker Georges Méliès and an examination of his role in the story of "Hugo."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2012-02-28
Popularity:
A Desperate Crime
Overview: A man is murdered and the killer brought to justice by guillotine. This film is partly lost.
Genres: Thriller Drama Crime
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-06-01
Popularity:
Ali Barbouyou and Ali Bouf, In Oil
Overview: The opening title card explains that a painter has just finished his work when his assistant comes in and accidentally drinks varnish. The film then picks up as the painter goes haywire and sends the assistant into the painting.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-05-23
Popularity:
The Wonderful Living Fan
Overview: As a conjurer awaits an audience, a procession announces the arrival of a royal representative, carried in a sedan chair, to see him. The conjurer then has a large box brought in. It is opened, revealing a very large folding fan. When the fan is spread out, the designs on it begin to change and move. And this is far from the last of the surprises that the conjurer has in store.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-04-29
Popularity:
The Black Imp
Overview: A traveler at an inn is harassed by a mischievous devil in his room.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-01-27
Popularity:
The Monster
Overview: An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx.
Genres: Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-05-26
Popularity:
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
Overview: An inventor dreams that his newly designed airship takes flight.
Genres: Science Fiction Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-12-27
Popularity:
The Temptation of St. Anthony
Overview: St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1898-01-01
Popularity:
The Diabolic Tenant
Overview: A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1909-01-30
Popularity:
The Man with the Rubber Head
Overview: A chemist carries out a bizarre experiment with his own head.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-12-01
Popularity:
The Mermaid
Overview: A magician conjures up a mermaid while fishing.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-05-26
Popularity:
The Devil in a Convent
Overview: A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into pandemonium.
Genres: Horror Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
Long Distance Wireless Photography
Overview: Into a photography studio full of large fantastic machines steps an elderly couple. The bearded proprietor explains the equipment and gives them a demonstration: he starts machines whirring, and projects a painting of three women onto a large screen; suddenly the women begin to move. The customers are impressed. First the women sits in the special seat: she's projected onto the screen, and her good nature comes out in the laughing image. Then it's the man's turn, but the machine discloses a vastly different nature in him. Will his reaction threaten our proprietor's inventions?
Genres: Science Fiction Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1908-02-07
Popularity:
An Up-to-Date Conjurer
Overview: A film from Méliès has him playing a magician who does a few tricks including making a woman disappear.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
The Merry Frolics of Satan
Overview: Two travellers are tormented by Satan from inn to inn and eventually experience a buggy ride through the heavens courtesy of the Devil before he takes one of them down to Hell and roasts him on a spit.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-09-07
Popularity:
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
Overview: A series of fantastical wrestling matches.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
The Hilarious Posters
Overview: A wall full of advertising posters comes to life.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-04-20
Popularity:
The Infernal Cakewalk
Overview: Pluto, having seen the earth, comes back home amazed at the success of that well-known dance, the "cake-walk." He has brought back with him two noted well-known dancers, who start their favorite dance amidst the flames.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-02-21
Popularity:
The Dreyfus Affair
Overview: The first movie ever censored for political reasons. The title refers to the then contemporaneous Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish military officer was falsely convicted of treason, and it was alleged that he was framed due to anti-semitism.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-11-04
Popularity:
The Clockmaker's Dream
Overview: A weary clock-maker dozes off in a chair. While he is asleep, three women suddenly appear in the midst of his shop. They proceed to show the sleeping clock-maker some new kinds of clocks that they know how to make.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-02-11
Popularity:
The Melomaniac
Overview: The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-05-18
Popularity:
Summoning the Spirits
Overview: A bearded man hangs up a wreath and, like any good magician, waves his hands inside of it and under it to show us it's only a wreath…
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1899-05-20
Popularity:
Extraordinary Illusions
Overview: Pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès performs his cine-magic act.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-09-22
Popularity:
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
Overview: A Chinese conjurer stands next to a table, it becomes two tables. A fan becomes a parasol, lanterns appear and disappear. The conjurer spins the open parasol in front of himself, and a dog leaps out from behind it. The dog becomes a woman, then a masked man appears. The conjurer sits them each on a box a few feet apart: suddenly the woman and man have changed places. The disappearing and the transfers continue in front of a simple backdrop.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-04-16
Popularity:
The Human Pyramid
Overview: Méliès appears as a court jester (a “triboulet” in French). He pulls 18th century noblemen out of a trunk and arranges them on a pyramid-shaped stage. Next, he transforms the gentlemen into fancy ladies.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1899-05-20
Popularity:
Hat of Many Surprises
Overview: A magician's hat offers many surprises.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-09-14
Popularity:
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
Overview: A man takes off his clothes in preparation for bed, only for new clothes to spontaneously generate, leading to comical consternation.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
Overview: In this subject a "comique eccentric" enters the drawing room inhabited by spirits. He tries to take off his coat and hat, but these garments return to his head and shoulders as soon as he takes them off. The chairs, his umbrella, his hat, etc., fly away in different directions and by various methods. (Star Film Catalog)
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
Jupiter's Thunderballs
Overview: With godly entrapments, Zeus appears on the horizon, engages Hermes as an audience, and tries to throw some thunderbolts. They fizzle. Hephaestus tries to make some repairs but succeeds only in heating the bolts and burning Zeus's hands. Zeus conjures nine muses, but do their incantations help? He dismisses them as well as a visiting Pan, and his fits of pique become counter-productive. Can he get his powers back?
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-08-20
Popularity:
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
Overview: In a public place in Constantinople at the corner of a bazaar, the executioner is seated upon a stone and is resting from his daily labors while eating a crust of bread. Suddenly there come running into the place a lot of Turkish men and women preceding some Turkish policemen, who drag along four prisoners in chains. The policemen shut up the four prisoners in the pillory. Their four heads stick up through the huge plank, which is provided with four openings. One of the policemen urges the executioner to decapitate the prisoners. He accordingly seizes a mighty sabre and cuts off by a single stroke the four heads, which roll upon the ground.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-12-11
Popularity:
The Bewitched Inn
Overview: A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1897-01-01
Popularity:
Whimsical Illusions
Overview: In this hand-colored short, a magician and his assistant do a series of magic tricks, including making potted plants appear, among others. Melies played the magician, and the actor Manuel played his assistant.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1909-12-01
Popularity:
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
Overview: A boy is led into the frame by two nursemaids who give him a big ball to play with. For the remainder of the film heads appear and disappear, stage props blow up and turn into other objects or people, and finally Bob Kick disappears.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-09-14
Popularity:
The Ballet Master's Dream
Overview: It's late in the evening, and the ballet master's bed has been prepared for him. But he cannot take his mind off of his work, and instead of going to sleep he paces the floor and tries out dance steps. Finally, he goes to bed and falls asleep, but ballet dominates even his dreams. He sees two dancers who seem to come right into his room as they perform, and that's just the beginning.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-11-10
Popularity:
Apparitions
Overview: Alone in his room at an inn, a lustful old man is haunted by spirits.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-08-09
Popularity:
The Prolific Magical Egg
Overview: A human skeleton is placed upon a table by an attendant. When the attendant leaves the room the skeleton begins kicking his legs and throwing his arms about and suddenly turns into a magician. The magician produces an egg, performing several sleight-of-hand tricks, and places it upon the table with the small end downward. He then crudely draws a human face upon the shell, and the egg immediately begins growing larger and larger until it reaches the size of a normal head.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-03-15
Popularity:
The Diabolical Church Window
Overview: Here we have an old scholar/alchemist brooding over a book, challenged by the devil, and going through the familiar sorcery to create a woman by throwing pieces of clothing against a stain-glass church window, like a jigsaw puzzle (and later in reverse). The woman also multiplies herself five-fold so as to match a similar paravent.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1911-10-01
Popularity:
Satan in Prison
Overview: The title is vital, since the bulk of the action consists of a well-dressed man magically producing a series of items to furnish a bare room, culminating in his summoning up a charming lady to share his meal. Hearing the guards approaching, the man reverses the process, ending with a bare room when the two men enter.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-09-30
Popularity:
Méliès: Tales of Terror
Overview: A compilation of three short trick films by Georges Méliès: El melómano (1903) (The Melomaniac aka The Music Lover)(1903), El monstruo (1903) (The Monster) (1903) and El verdugo turco (1904) (The Terrible Turkish Executioner) (1904).
Genres: Horror
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 2021-10-08
Popularity:
The Dwarf and the Giant
Overview: A magician explores two halves of his self: The Dwarf and the Giant.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-12-14
Popularity:
The Oracle of Delphi
Overview: A box of valued jewels is placed inside the tomb of Delphi. A thief breaks into the tomb and steals it, but soon the ghost of Delphi appears and puts a curse on him.
Genres: Crime Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-05-03
Popularity:
The Doctor's Secret
Overview: Doctors blow to pieces a patient in a hydrotherapy machine and re-assemble him.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1909-01-10
Popularity:
A Moonlight Serenade
Overview: Pierrot goes to the house of his love to serenade her, but her father kicks him out. Soon the moon and its goddess Diana come towards the man and offers him something better.
Genres: Fantasy Romance Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-12-26
Popularity:
The Magician's Cavern
Overview: A very enthusiastic magician performs several tricks.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-04-13
Popularity:
A Mesmerian Experiment
Overview: A magician creates a troupe of dancers out of thin air.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-03-03
Popularity:
The Mysterious Retort
Overview: A wizard sleeps at a table in his well-appointed sitting room. From a drawer in the table, a snake appears.
Genres: Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-09-28
Popularity:
Playing Cards
Overview: Three friends are playing cards in a beer garden. One of them orders drinks. The waitress comes back with a bottle of wine and three glasses on a tray. The man serves his friends. They clink glasses and drink. Then the man asks for a newspaper. He reads a funny story in it and the three friends burst out laughing while the waitress merely smiles.
Genres: Documentary Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-01-01
Popularity:
An Impossible Balancing Feat
Overview: A magician along with three doppelgangers perform an elaborate balancing act.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-09-13
Popularity:
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
Overview: Only 8 surviving seconds of a man getting great pleasure from smoking a cigar.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-01-15
Popularity:
Bluebeard
Overview: A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.
Genres: Drama Horror Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-07-25
Popularity:
The Witch
Overview: A penniless troubadour consults witch Carabosse about his future, but offends her by paying with a bag of sand. He evades the witch's revenge, and saves the beautiful princess.
Genres: Family Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-11-06
Popularity:
Faust in the Underworld
Overview: The German legend of a scholar's unholy pact with the Devil would have been very familiar to most moviegoers (at least European ones), so Georges Méliès' early cinematic treatment likely got away with simply offering a fancifully illustrated late episode without the earlier narrative context (however, spoken narration provides some of the latter in this restored print). Tempted by Mephistopheles with all kinds of dancing and ethereal babes, Faust is at first excited and then terrified by the sight of various demons and monsters. The painted-set designers really went hog wild on this one, depicting the (sometimes sexy) torments of subterranean Hell with in bold terms (even when ballerinas prance in the foreground). (Dennis Harvey, Fandor)
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-12-05
Popularity:
The Treasures of Satan
Overview: The setting of this fantastic scene represents the hall of an old chateau in which a miser has locked up seven large bags containing his wealth. Satan, who has made his way into the chateau, puts the seven bags in a strong box, and makes with his hands some cabalistic motions. The miser comes into the hall and is greatly astonished to find his fortune missing. He opens the coffer and immediately the bags leap out. He gathers them up and puts them back into the coffer. When he opens it again he finds that they have been transformed into seven young girls, who rush out and chase after him, beating him unmercifully. They shut him up in the coffer from which his gold has vanished. The miser pushes open the lid of the coffer, and to his profound despair finds that both young girls and money have disappeared. (This view is most sensational in its mysterious scenes.) (Star Film Catalog)
Genres: Horror Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-07-26
Popularity:
The Devil and the Statue
Overview: At the beginning of the scene Romeo in his gondola sings to Juliet a sentimental song, then goes away. Hardly has he departed when the colonnade falls to pieces, disclosing the devil. Juliet, frightened, runs to the window and calls Romeo. The latter attempts to enter and protect his fiancée, but at a gesture from the devil the window is instantly covered with a grating and Romeo makes frantic efforts to break it. The devil begins to dance a wild dance before Juliet, who is beside herself from terror. The devil gradually becomes the size of a giant (a novel effect). Juliet implores the statue of Madonna, which becomes animated, descends from its pedestal, and stretching out its arms orders the devil to disappear. (Méliès Catalog)
Genres: Romance Horror Fantasy Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-12-01
Popularity:
The Mysterious Knight
Overview: A knight performs several magic tricks with a disembodied head materialized from a chalkboard drawing.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
The Artist and the Dummy
Overview: A very simple gag film as a young lady substitutes herself for a dummy in order to play a practical joke on an artist.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-05-21
Popularity:
The Christmas Dream
Overview: The entire story of Christmastide is here depicted. The scene opens in a large boudoir of an apparently wealthy man's home. His children, assisted by their governess, are about to retire. Before lying down they hang up their stockings on the edge of the bed. The picture changes and night appears. We see the housetops of the town and angels are flying about depositing packages in each of the chimneys. (Edison Catalog)
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-08-08
Popularity:
Good Glue Sticks
Overview: A peddler of "the best glue" sets up his outdoor stall. A crowd gathers for a demonstration. As he gives his pitch, two observant cops decide drive off his customers and close him down, much to his fury. He seeks revenge as they sit on a park bench.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-09-20
Popularity:
The Mystical Flame
Overview: A juggler enters upon the scene, picks up a skull, throws it into the air, catches it in his hands, where it is transformed into a handkerchief. The handkerchief, after being twirled about a wand, is changed to a napkin, and afterward to a tablecloth. Out of the table cloth comes a servant.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-04-19
Popularity:
The Fugitive Apparitions
Overview: A magician makes a woman appear and disappear.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-02-03
Popularity:
Gala Méliès
Overview: Lost in the streets of Paris, Georges Méliès is looking everywhere for the Salle Pleyel. On the wall he sees an enormous Gala poster bearing his picture. He dives head first into the poster.
Genres: Documentary Fantasy
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1929-12-16
Popularity:
The Kingdom of the Fairies
Overview: At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.
Genres: Adventure Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-07-25
Popularity:
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Overview: In this film, Méliès concocts a combination fairy- and morality tale about the foolishness of trying to look too deeply into the workings of an unstable and inscrutable universe. At a medieval school, an old astronomer begins to teach a class of young men, all armed with telescopes, about the art of scrutinising an imminent eclipse. When a mechanical clock strikes twelve, all the young men rush to the windows and fix their telescopes on the heavens.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Romance
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-06-07
Popularity:
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
Overview: A man attempts to engender a transformation of a giant worm into a butterfly.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-01-18
Popularity:
A Maiden's Paradise
Overview: In a wizard's cavern, a series of magic tricks are performed..
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-04-20
Popularity:
The Temple of the Sun
Overview: A high nobleman finds himself in the Temple of the Sun, where he meets Mascarille, who proposes himself as a juggler. After extracting from the nobleman's nose several playing cards, Mascarille enlarges these cards and transforms them into the flags of all nations. From these flags he extricates a group of beauties. The nobleman begins to pay court to the ladies. Instantly the group disappears and the lord finds himself face to face with an animated Sun, who starts in a grotesque dance. The Sun is changed to a pumpkin. Then the devil appears, replaces the head of the lord with the pumpkin and drives him away with an enormous candlestick, which sends out flames and smoke.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-05-18
Popularity:
A Roadside Inn
Overview: The staff of an inn play a cruel trick on a guest.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1906-06-25
Popularity:
The Knight of the Snow
Overview: One of the last films Georges Méliès made. By now, he was under contract for his former rival Pathé, where he made a few of his most lavish productions, including this one. Here, Méliès performed in front of the camera as the Devil […]. His incarnation of Satan this time is a sprightly antagonist who kidnaps a princess by locking her in a cage and taking off through the sky in a dragon-pulled carriage. […]
Genres: Adventure Horror Fantasy Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1912-12-20
Popularity:
The Magic Lantern
Overview: Two impish clowns construct a magic lantern. They prop it up at an angle, and use it to project pictures onto a wall. When the picture show ends, they open up the lantern to reveal a group of dancing girls inside - and this is only the first of the indications that this lantern really is magical.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-10-30
Popularity:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Overview: The film, a parody of the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, follows a fisherman, Yves, who dreams of traveling by submarine to the bottom of the ocean, where he encounters both realistic and fanciful sea creatures, including a chorus of naiads played by dancers from the Théâtre du Châtelet. Méliès's design for the film includes cut-out sea animals patterned after Alphonse de Neuville's illustrations for Verne's novel.
Genres: Adventure Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-02-17
Popularity:
Pygmalion and Galatea
Overview: Showing Pygmalion at work in his studio on the statue of Galatea, who, on being completed, comes to life. He attempts to clasp her to his arms, when the bust leaves the body and crossing the room mocks at him standing with the lower portion of her body in his hands. Further startling illusions are seen in this most beautiful picture.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1898-01-01
Popularity:
A Nightmare
Overview: A man has a fantastical nightmare involving, among other things, a grinning malevolent moon.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-12-25
Popularity:
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
Overview: Two men in a cave perform magic.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-10-03
Popularity:
Tunneling the English Channel
Overview: The plot follows King Edward VII and President Armand Fallières dreaming of building a tunnel under the English Channel.
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-04-22
Popularity:
Naval Combat in Greece
Overview: An officer calls his sailors to the deck. They assemble around the canon while the officer scans the horizon. They all turn in the direction of the camera to look in the distance. At the same time the ship is hit! This scene is a filmed reconstruction of the 1897 Greek-Turkish war.
Genres: War Drama History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1897-01-01
Popularity:
Violons d'Ingres
Overview: Shows hobbies of people who do an ordinary job in the day. Made for New York Fair.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1939-01-01
Popularity:
The Extraordinary Voyage
Overview: An account of the extraordinary life of film pioneer Georges Méliès (1861-1938) and the amazing story of the copy in color of his masterpiece A Trip to the Moon (1902), unexpectedly found in Spain and restored thanks to the heroic efforts of a group of true cinema lovers.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2011-12-08
Popularity:
The Mysterious Portrait
Overview: A magician produces a living portrait of himself.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
Tit for Tat
Overview: Georges Melies the magician. Melies removes his own head, puts it in a glass box on a stool, then grows another one. Melies lights up a cigarette and blows smoke at his old head. The head gets payback by levitating above Melies and spewing water on him.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-01-05
Popularity:
The Devilish Plank
Overview: A magic trick is performed with a long plank with two pots built into it, both with holes in the bottom. Pretty girls are part of the magic.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-05-13
Popularity:
Conjuring
Overview: The film reproduces a magic act Méliès performed at his Paris theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Conjuring is notable as Méliès's second film, and as his first to move beyond the actuality film genre pioneered by the Lumière brothers and experiment with using the camera to capture a theatrical magic act. (Later in 1896, with his discovery of the substitution splice technique, Méliès was able to begin augmenting his theatrical illusions with new special effects unique to film.) Conjuring can thus be seen as Méliès's first foray into the world of fiction film. The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and numbered 2 in its catalogues.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1896-06-15
Popularity:
The Christmas Angel
Overview: A poor family in a rundown house where snow falls through the broken roof, there's no coal to heat the pathetic little stove, mother is sick, father sends daughter out to beg. Rejected by other beggars, the girl collapses in the snow…
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-12-23
Popularity:
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
Overview: Georges Méliès' adaptation of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is most distinguished, today, for being a color film of the classic story. Color was rare in 1902 (and many years after) as non-tinted color has to be hand painted on the film; this was an arduous task. Also notable is the film's short running time of approximately five minutes. Much of the original work is not covered, but viewers were expected to be familiar with the story, and enjoy the filmed highlights. There are a couple of scenes missing; according to contemporary reports, Gulliver's shipwreck was certainly included. You can do a lot in a few minutes, as Mr. Méliès includes a re-make of his own "Une partie de cartes" (1896), which already looked like something previously covered by the Lumière Brothers.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-11-22
Popularity:
The Prince of Magicians
Overview: A magician does tricks with the aid of his assistant, the Human Pump.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-06-22
Popularity:
The Human Fly
Overview: This is a moving picture that moves. Positively the greatest magical picture ever offered. A Hindoo magician appears and dances for the entertainment of six pretty maidens. Then, to the astonishment of all, he runs up the wall, dances and turns handsprings in mid-air, introducing many tricks that are entirely new in animated photography. The most puzzling of all the mystical series. (Star Film Catalog)
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-08-09
Popularity:
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
Overview: A performing magician divides into two people. The doubles then take turns doing tricks before merging back into one man.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-01-13
Popularity:
Cleopatra's Tomb
Overview: A man digging inside an Egyptian tomb chops up a mummy, then resurrects the woman inside it. This film is presumably lost.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
Rip's Dream
Overview: The Melies version of the old Rip Van Winkle tale.
Genres: Drama Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-11-14
Popularity:
Robinson Crusoe
Overview: Georges Méliès adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, the first film adaptation of the story. Filmed in black & white, Méliès would then paint the film by hand to colour it. Originally a 15 minute film, twelve and a half minutes of painted film have been found and have been restored.
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-12-20
Popularity:
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
Overview: A poor but honest man wins great wealth, and the hand of a beautiful princess, after facing a series of exciting trials in the tunnels and catacombs of ancient Araby. Guided by the mysterious Khalafar, the troupe (alongside him go some cowardly scholars) encounter skeletons, fire-breathing lizards, and mirages on their journey through the lower world.
Genres: Adventure Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-06-10
Popularity:
The Mysterious Box
Overview: As scene as pleasing as incomprehensible. A juggler summons two chairs, which come to the stage jumping and twirling around. Across the back of these chairs the operator places a sheet of glass on which he lays a box about four inches high. He then takes a table cover, with his servant's help, rolls it up and from the centre emerges a lady, beautifully dressed. At the juggler's order she jumps in the box, in which she completely disappears.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-02-27
Popularity:
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
Overview: A prince gets the help of a fairy to aid in his conflict with a wizard.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
Overview: The Merchant, the Farrier, and the Roman accompany a mysterious woman into a magical cave full of terrors and wonders.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1908-07-02
Popularity:
The Triple Headed Lady
Overview: A conjuror appears to demonstrate a lady with three heads.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1901-01-25
Popularity:
The Pillar of Fire
Overview: A devil wearing bat-like wings and brandishing a trident dances around a giant pot, conjuring forth flame from his trident to lit a fire beneath the pot. After the devil works the fire with bellows, an angelic woman emerges from the pot. The devil and the pot vanish as the woman performs a dance, waving about her diaphanous sleeves until she conjures forth another fire, then she rises amongst the smoke into the air.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1899-01-01
Popularity:
The Méliès Mystery
Overview: A documentary that details the process of restoring 270 of the 520 lost films of pioneering director Georges Méliès, all orchestrated by a Franco-American collaboration between Lobster Films, the National Film Center, and the Library of Congress.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2021-01-02
Popularity:
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
Overview: The scene takes place in front of a barrack, where a young soldier is on duty --most laughable and comical
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-02-02
Popularity:
The Marvellous Wreath
Overview: A magician performs tricks with a marvelous wreath.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-01-18
Popularity:
A Fantastical Meal
Overview: A family sits down to enjoy a meal that ends up being fraught with complications.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
Overview: A conjurer (along with two duplicates) conjure up (and then cause to vanish) a beautiful woman head-first.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
The Magic Book
Overview: Characters from a large magic book come to life.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1900-01-01
Popularity:
The Famous Box Trick
Overview: A magician performs a series of magic tricks involving a boy and a box.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1898-01-01
Popularity:
The Magician
Overview: In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.
Genres: Fantasy Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1898-01-01
Popularity:
Between Calais and Dover
Overview: A rocky sea voyage as reenacted by Georges Méliès.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1897-01-01
Popularity:
The Firefall
Overview: A magic show.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1904-12-01
Popularity:
Fortune Favors the Brave
Overview: A young boy's adventure takes him to the domain of the Genie of the Cathedral Bell, where he finds a fortune to enrich his family. The film is currently presumed lost.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1909-12-01
Popularity:
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Overview: Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2019-06-11
Popularity:
Sure Cure for Indigestion
Overview: In this film, we show the interior of a doctor's office. A patient enters, and judging from the expression on his face, he is in great pain. The doctor tells him that he is troubled with acute indigestion, and immediately places him upon the operating table. He begins his treatment by cutting off the patient's arms and legs with a huge saw. After removing these members, he takes a large knife and makes an incision in the unfortunate's stomach large enough to put his arm in. He then removes such things as bottles, knives and forks, lamps and other articles of furniture from the patient's body ...
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1902-10-25
Popularity:
Alcoléa & cie Documentary
Overview: Upon a visit to UVM's Lane Series in the Spring of 2022, Jean-Francois Alcolea offered to conduct a workshop to UVM film students and others on his piece, "Right in the Eye". A group of students from FTS 141 Video Production, teamed up to document the day and Jean-Francios' magical performance. They all left with a smile.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2024-02-21
Popularity:
The Lilliputian Minuet
Overview: The film, of which only fragments are known to survive, features Méliès as a magician making playing-card figures come to life in miniature.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-02-18
Popularity:
The Enchanted Basket
Overview: A farmer calls on a juggler to see a few of his best tricks. The juggler has brought a bouquet of flowers, from which he takes out a charming and beautiful girl. The farmer, enraptured, attempts to kiss the beauty, and in trying to do so he only catches a devil, who beats him unmercifully and finally bursts into a thousand pieces. The juggler asks the farmer if his cares for any more exhibitions, but the poor fellow runs away in great terror.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-01-03
Popularity:
Beelzebub's Daughters
Overview: Beelzebub, making fire on the tips of his fingers, develops a large blaze, from which three girls emerge, who commence a dance in the heart of the flames, while two devils shake burning torches; all disappear. This scene is the first of its kind and is quite magical in its effect.
Genres: Horror Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1903-01-26
Popularity:
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
Overview: An early horror treatment of the hero's encounter with the one-eyed man-eating Cyclops.
Genres: Fantasy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1905-09-01
Popularity:
The Woes of Roller Skaters
Overview: A group of people take roller skating too far.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1908-05-24
Popularity:
French Cops Learning English
Overview: The seven-minute film takes place inside a classroom where some cops are learning English.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1908-07-28
Popularity:
Not Guilty
Overview: Three burglars invade a house, kill two people, and blind a third person, a woman. The police arrest the wrong man.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1908-05-23
Popularity:
The King and the Jester
Overview: French short about King Francis I and his jester Triboulet, who form the basis for Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse (and Verdi's opera Rigoletto).
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1907-12-13
Popularity:
The Magic of Méliès
Overview: A walk through the life and work of the brilliant French filmmaker Georges Méliès (1861-1938), pioneer of special and visual effects.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1997-01-01
Popularity: