Film History: Georges Méliès

In our Monday night film class we talked a lot about Georges Méliès, and if you were in the BBBS April session, Georges Méliès is the filmmaker who inspired a lot of the special effects used in "A Night at the Theatre." I thought I would post a little more information and links to some of his films for anyone who might be curious.

Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was a stage magician in France before becoming one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. In 1888 he became the owner and manager of the famed Théâtre Robert-Houdin, a theater devoted to magic founded by the most famous magician of the 19th century, Jean Eugene Robert Houdin (American magician Ehrich Weiss adopted the stage name "Harry Houdini" in honor of this same magician). The purchase of the theater came along with many of Robert-Houdin's automata, which were performing robotic figures.

Performing as a magician and managing other magic acts, he began devising "Magic scenes." These were short plays or vignettes that told a story incorporating various magical tricks into the action. They were complete with hand-painted sets (designed and painted by Méliès), elaborate costumes (also designed by Méliès) and many mechanical wonders designed and built by Méliès. Often these "magic scenes" were based on fairy tales or other fantastical tales. Much of this would be applied to his films.

He was present at one of the first ever screenings of a projected film, shown by the Lumieres, and immediately attempted to buy a camera from the brothers. They refused, claiming they intended their invention only to document serious things and never frivolous things like magic (in truth they were protecting their ability to be the only ones making films, since they were the only ones with a camera capable of filming projectable film). Méliès bought a projector from them instead (they were happy to sell projectors as it meant they were able to sell more copies of their films) and converted it into a functioning camera.

His very first films were merely filmed versions of some of his popular stage magic acts. He soon realized that film allowed him to do tricks that were not possible otherwise. His first breakthrough came when he was testing his camera by filming traffic on a Paris street and the camera jammed for a few moments. When playing the film back, a city bus turned into a hearse (both of the horse pulled variety, or course). What had happened was the camera had jammed when a bus drove by and started again when a hearse was in the same spot. This, and his later experiments in double exposures became the basis of many of his special effects, for which he became famous.

By filming the scene multiple times, with black cloth covering anything unwanted, Méliès could duplicate himself or parts of himself, a  trick he used frequently.

By the late 1890's, his magic trick films were so successful being shown at fairgrounds that he expanded his business, building the world's first film studio. He began to make films that told a story- much like his "magic scenes," with elaborate sets and costumes and plots and featuring his special effects. He also directed the world's first commercials, which were projected on walls of buildings to advertise products to passersby.

Méliès at work building sets in his studio. It was made of glass to let in sunlight, as electric lights at the time were not yet bright enough to expose the film.

Soon his films were selling internationally. For the first decade of the twentieth century he was the most popular filmmaker on the planet. However, by about 1910 he was facing too much competition from Hollywood film studios and rival French studios like Pathe, which were producing films on a industrial scale. Méliès, who insisted on continuing to write, direct, star in and design and build all the set and costumes for his films, could not produce enough films to keep up with the demand. His films were also increasingly being pirated and shown illegally. This and changing public tastes as World War I broke out caused Méliès to abandon filmmaking, eventually selling his studio, cameras and even all his film prints to pay off debts. He then opened a toy shop in a Paris train station. It was there that he was rediscovered by film historians in the 1930's, who began to interview him and hold showings of his work. He died in 1938.

Méliès in his toy shop.

He is generally considered to be one of the first filmmakers to use film to tell stories, and his influence is still felt today. He made over 500 films; today about 270 have been found.

Here are some of his magic trick films:

"The Four Troublesome Heads" (1898)

"One Man Band" (1900)

"The Man With the Rubber Head" (1901)

"The Music Lover" (1904)

"The Devilish Tenant" (1909)

His most famous film, "A Trip to the Moon," is typical of his later fantasy films:

"A Trip to the Moon" (1902)

The most famous image from his most famous film, hand-tinted (as all his films originally were).

If you search "Georges Melies" on YouTube, you will find dozens more. These are just some of my personal favorites.

The film Hugo (2011), directed by Martin Scorcese and based on the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznik, is a fictional account of the rediscovery of Méliès in the 1930's. Both the book and the film are excellent, and the Méliès material is more or less accurate. The film has the advatange of showing clips from actual Méliès films. Hugo is currently streaming on Netflix and available on DVD; most of the public libraries have copies of both the film and the book.