No image from early cinema, save perhaps the train arriving at La Ciotat, endures so strongly as Georges Melies’ man in the moon, a spaceship crashed into his eye. It’s a moment from the French magician’s most famous film, A Trip to the Moon (Le voyage dans la lune) from 1902. But Melies’s output goes well beyond his signature film; he produced a large and innovative body of work, and a decent percentage of it is extant. Melies’s theatrical, surreal, fairy tale vision of cinema — crafted with gimmicky formal tricks to evoke the supernatural — went out of style late in the director’s life, but has gone on to immense critical reappreciation. Many fans of early cinema — myself included — consider Melies the “first wizard of cinema,” an all-time legend and the medium’s first auteur.
Melies began making films in the late 19th century after witnessing a Lumiere brothers presentation. The Lumieres wouldn’t license a camera, so Melies invented his own. He viewed motion pictures initially as an extension of his stage act, but it quickly became his main performance output. Between 1896 and the first few years of the 20th century, Melies gradually expanded the ambition and artistry of his films. His early actualities and trick films became bespoke miniature masterpieces running several minutes long. Even as silent cinema grows fainter in the canon and the minds of the moviegoing public, Melies endures as a warmhearted pioneer and visionary.
Chronological
Note: Please read this proviso about ratings for early cinema.
- Playing Cards (1896) (Nearly Good)
- Conjuring (1896) (Nearly Good)
- The House of the Devil (La Manoir du diable) (1896) (Good)
- The Haunted Castle (Le Chateau hante) (1897) (Nearly Good)
- A Trip to the Moon (1902) (Very Good)
By Rating
Note: Please read this proviso about ratings for early cinema.
Very Good (6/8)
- A Trip to the Moon (1902) (Very Good)
Good (5/8)
Nearly Good (4/8)
- Playing Cards (1896) (Nearly Good)
- Conjuring (1896) (Nearly Good)
- The Haunted Castle (Le Chateau hante) (1897) (Nearly Good)
Last Updated
- 10/13/2024
Review Index
| Title | Date | Film Year | Director | Is It Good | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Haunted Castle (Le Chateau hante) (1897) | 07/20/2024 | 1897 | Melies, Georges | 4 | Georges Melies |
| The House of the Devil (La Manoir du diable) (1896) | 07/18/2024 | 1896 | Melies, Georges | 5 | Georges Melies |
| Conjuring (1896) | 11/25/2022 | 1896 | Melies, Georges | 4 | Georges Melies |
| Playing Cards (1896) | 11/17/2022 | 1896 | Melies, Georges | 4 | Georges Melies |
| A Trip to the Moon (1902) | 11/20/2020 | 1902 | Melies, Georges | 6 | 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Georges Melies |
- Review Series: Georges Melies
Follow Dan on Letterboxd or Twitter. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.