Georges Méliès
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| + | "They can keep their [[Robert Bresson|Bresson]]s and their [[Jean Cocteau|Cocteaus]]. The cinematic, modern [[marvelous]] is popular, and the best and most exciting films are, beginning with [[Georges Méliès|Méliès]] and [[Fantômas]], the films shown in [[Grindhouse|local fleapits]], films which seem to have no place in the [[history of cinema]]." --''[[Le Surréalisme au cinéma]]'' (1953) by [[Adonis A. Kyrou]] | ||
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| + | [[Image:Le Voyage dans la lune.jpg|200px|thumb|right|''[[A Trip to the Moon]]'' ([[1902]]) [[Georges Méliès]]]] | ||
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| - | '''Georges Méliès''' ([[December 8]], [[1861]] – [[January 21]], [[1938]]), full name '''Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès''', was a [[France|French]] [[film]]maker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest [[film|cinema]]. He was born in [[Paris]], where his family manufactured [[shoe]]s. | + | '''Georges Méliès''' ([[December 8]], [[1861]] – [[January 21]], [[1938]]), full name '''Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès''', was a [[French film]]maker famous for leading many [[special effects|technical]] and [[narrative]] developments in the [[early cinema|earliest cinema]]. He is best-known for his film ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]''. |
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| + | == Legacy == | ||
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| + | He was very innovative in the use of [[special effects]]. He accidentally discovered the [[stop trick]] [[animation]], or substitution, in [[1896]], and was one of the first filmmakers to use [[double exposure|multiple exposures]], [[time-lapse]] photography, [[Dissolve (film)|dissolve]]s, and hand-painted colour in his films. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform [[reality]] with the [[cinematograph]], Méliès is sometimes referred to as the "Cinemagician." | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Biography== | ||
| + | He was born in [[Paris]], where his family manufactured [[shoe]]s. | ||
| + | Before making [[film]]s, he was a [[stage magic]]ian at the [[Theatre Robert-Houdin]]. In [[1895]], he became interested in film after seeing a demonstration of the [[Lumière brothers]]' camera. In [[1897]], he established a studio on a rooftop property in [[Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis|Montreuil]]. Actors performed in front of a painted set as inspired by the conventions of magic and [[musical theater]]. He directed 531 films between [[1896]] and [[1914]], ranging in length from one to forty minutes. In subject matter, these films are often similar to the magic theater shows that Méliès had been doing, containing "tricks" and impossible events, such as objects disappearing or changing size. | ||
| + | |||
| + | His most famous film is ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]'' (''Le voyage dans la Lune'') made in [[1902]], which includes the celebrated scene in which a spaceship hits the eye of the man in the moon. Also famous is ''[[The Impossible Voyage]]'' (''Le voyage à travers l'impossible'') from [[1904]]. Both of these films are about strange voyages, somewhat in the style of [[Jules Verne]]. These are considered to be some of the most important early [[science fiction film]]s, although their approach is closer to [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]]. Agents of [[Thomas Edison]] bribed a theater owner in [[London]] for a copy of ''A Trip to the Moon''. Edison then made hundreds of copies and showed them in [[New York City]]. Méliès received no compensation. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In addition [[horror film|horror cinema]] can be traced back to Georges Méliès's [[Le Manoir du diable]] ([[1896 in film|1896]]). | ||
| + | |||
| + | His 1899 short film ''[[Cleopatra]]'' was believed to be a [[lost film]] until a copy was discovered in 2005 in [[Paris]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | In 1913 Georges Méliès' film company was forced into [[bankruptcy]] by the large French and American studios and his company was bought out of receivership by [[Pathé Frères]]. After being driven out of business Méliès became a toy salesman at the [[Montparnasse]] station. In [[1932]] the Cinema Society gave Méliès a home in Château d'Orly. Méliès did not grasp the value of his films, and with some 500 films recorded on cellulose, the French Army seized most of this stock to be melted down into boot heels during World War I. Many of the other films were sold to be recycled into new film. As a result many of these films do not exist today. In time, Méliès was rediscovered and honored for his work, eventually taking up stage performance. | ||
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| + | Georges Méliès has been awarded the [[Légion d'honneur]] (Legion of honor). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Méliès died in Paris and was buried in the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Filmography== | ||
| + | ===Selected filmography=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Georges Méliès directed hundreds of films including the following. For a full filmography see [[Georges Méliès filmography]]. | ||
| + | * ''[[Une partie de cartes|Playing Cards]]'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Haunted Castle (1896 film)|The Haunted Castle]]'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[Batteuse à vapeur]]'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[Bébé et fillettes]]'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[Le Bivouac]]'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[Escamotage d'une dame au théâtre Robert Houdin|The Vanishing Lady]]'' / ''Escamotage d'une dame chez Robert Houdin'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Haunted Castle (1896 film)|The House of the Devil]]'' / ''Le Manoir du diable'' (1896) | ||
| + | * ''[[Boulevard des Italiens (film)|Boulevard des Italiens]]'' | ||
| + | * ''[[Cléopâtre (1899 film)|Cleopatra]]'' (1899) | ||
| + | * ''[[Cinderella (1899 film)|Cinderella]]'' / ''Cendrillon'' (1899) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Dreyfus Affair]]'' / ''L'Affaire Dreyfus'' (1899) | ||
| + | * ''[[Jeanne d'Arc (1899 film)|Jeanne d'Arc]]'' (1900) | ||
| + | * ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]'' / ''Le Voyage dans la lune'' (1902) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Man With The Rubber Head]]'' / ''L'Homme à la tête de caoutchouc'' (1902) | ||
| + | * ''[[Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et chez les géants (film)|Gulliver's Travels]]'' / ''Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et chez les Géants'' (1902) | ||
| + | * ''[[L'Auberge du Bon Repos|The Inn Where No Man Rests]]'' / ''L'Auberge du Bon Repos'' (1903) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Mystical Flame]]'' / ''La Flamme merveilleuse'' (1903) | ||
| + | * ''[[Faust aux enfers|Faust in Hell]]'' (1903) | ||
| + | * ''[[Fairyland: A Kingdom of Fairies|Kingdom of the Fairies]]'' / ''Le Royaume des fées'' (1903) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Impossible Voyage]]'' / ''Voyage à travers l'impossible'' (1904) | ||
| + | * ''[[Le Raid Paris-Monte Carlo en deux heures|The Adventurous Automobile Trip]]'' (1904) | ||
| + | * ''[[Hilarious Posters]]'' / ''Les Affiches en goguette'' (1905) | ||
| + | * ''[[Palace of the Arabian Knights]]'' / Le Palais des Mille et une Nuits'' (1905) | ||
| + | * ''[[Paris to Monte Carlo]]'' / ''Le Raid Paris-Monte Carlo en deux Heures'' (1905) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Mysterious Retort]]'' / ''L'Alchimiste Parafaragamus ou La Cornue infernale'' (1906) | ||
| + | * ''[[20.000 Lieues sous les mers (film)|20,000 Leagues Under the Sea]]'' / ''20.000 Lieues sous les mers'' (1907) | ||
| + | * ''[[La Civilisation à travers les âges|Humanity Through the Ages]]'' (1908) | ||
| + | * ''[[Conquest of the Pole]]'' / ''A la conquête du pôle'' (1912) | ||
| + | * ''[[Les Aventures du baron de Münchhausen|Baron Munchausen's Dream]]'' / ''Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchausen'' (1911) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Ranchman's Debt of Honor]]'' (1911 - USA) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Knight of the Snows]]'' / ''Le Chevalier des Neiges'' (1912) | ||
| + | * ''[[Cinderella or The Glass Slipper]]'' / ''Cendrillon ou La Pantoufle mystérieuse'' (1912) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Ghost of Sulpher Mountain]]'' (1912 -USA) | ||
| + | * ''[[The Prisoner's Story]]'' (1912 - USA) | ||
| + | * ''[[Le Voyage de la famille Bourrichon]]'' (1913) | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Currently available videorecordings=== | ||
| + | Due to a variety of factors, roughly 200 of Méliès's 531 films exist. These factors include Méliès's destruction of his original negatives, the French army's confiscation of his prints and the typical deterioration of the majority (an estimated 80 percent) of films made before 1950. New films have occasionally been discovered but the majority that were preserved come from the US [[Library of Congress]], due to [[Gaston Méliès]] submitting paper prints of each frame of all new Star Films in order to preserve copyright when he set up the American branch of [[Star Film Company|Star Films]] in 1902.<ref name=Wakeman2/> | ||
| + | * George Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (5-DVD, 173-Film Collection) | ||
| + | * George Méliès Encore: New Discoveries 1896-1911 (26-Film supplement to the above 5-DVD Collection) | ||
| + | * Films of George Méliès | ||
| + | * The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works | ||
| + | * Marvelous Méliès | ||
| + | * Méliès Le Cinémagicien | ||
| + | * Mes Mémoires | ||
| + | * Pioneers of the French Cinema, Volume One | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Videorecordings== | ||
| + | *Films of George Méliès | ||
| + | *The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works | ||
| + | *Marvelous Méliès | ||
| + | *Méliès Le Cinémagicien | ||
| + | *Mes Mémoires | ||
| + | *Pioneers of the French Cinema, Volume One | ||
| + | *Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Popular culture== | ||
| + | The work of Georges Méliès has been referenced a number of times in film, television and fiction, including: | ||
| + | *''[[Le Grand Méliès]]'' (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by [[Georges Franju]]. André Méliès plays the part of his own father. | ||
| + | *The 1956 film version of ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in Eighty Days]]'' features ''[[A Trip to the Moon|Le Voyage Dans La Lune]]'' at the Introduction. | ||
| + | *In [[Jean-Luc Godard]]'s 1967 film, ''[[La Chinoise]]'', Guillaume ([[Jean-Pierre Léaud]]) prefaces a lecture on current events with a discussion of who, in French cinema, was the true originator of the filming of current events, the [[Lumière]] brothers or Méliès. Guillaume makes the argument that Méliès, rather than the Lumières, was the true originator of current event films in French cinema. | ||
| + | *[[Queen (band)|Queen]]'s 1995 music video "[[Heaven for Everyone]]" features clips from Méliès' ''[[Le Voyage dans la Lune]]'' and ''[[The Impossible Voyage]]''. | ||
| + | *The [[music video]] for [[The Smashing Pumpkins]]' 1996 song "[[Tonight, Tonight (The Smashing Pumpkins song)|Tonight, Tonight]]" was largely shot in the style of Méliès' best-known films, particularly ''[[A Trip to the Moon|Le Voyage Dans La Lune]].'' The video also features a paddle wheel steamship named "S.S. Méliès." | ||
| + | *In the last episode of the [[HBO]] [[miniseries]] ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries)|From The Earth to the Moon]]'', Méliès was played by [[Tchéky Karyo]]. | ||
| + | *In 2003 The [[New York Guitar Festival]] commissioned the jazz composer/guitarist [[Bill Frisell]] to composes scores for five early films by Georges Méliès, including ''[[A Trip to the Moon]]'' (1902) and ''[[The Impossible Voyage]]'' (1904). Bill Frisell's Trio presented the world premiere of the scores in January 2004 at two concerts taking place at the [[New York Guitar Festival]]. The performances were later broadcast on [[WNYC]] New York Public Radio.{{fact|date=November 2011}} | ||
| + | *The contribution of Méliès to cinema history is the subject of the 2007 illustrated novel ''[[The Invention of Hugo Cabret]]'' by [[Brian Selznick]], and [[Martin Scorsese]]'s 2011 film adaptation of it as ''[[Hugo (film)|Hugo]]'' with [[Ben Kingsley]] playing Méliès. The film recreates how the Méliès studio functioned, features several segments of early films by Méliès, and portrays the neglect and later recognition he received in his lifetime. | ||
| + | |||
| - | He was very innovative in the use of [[special effects]]. He accidentally discovered the [[stop trick]], or substitution, in [[1896]], and was one of the first filmmakers to use [[double exposure|multiple exposures]], [[time-lapse]] photography, [[Dissolve (film)|dissolve]]s, and hand-painted colour in his films. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality with the [[cinematograph]], Méliès is sometimes referred to as the "Cinemagician." | + | {{GFDL}} |
| - | Méliès figures prominently as a character in a best-selling children's book of 2007, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by [[Brian Selznick]].{{GFDL}} | + | [[Category:Canon]] |
Revision as of 23:10, 4 January 2019
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"They can keep their Bressons and their Cocteaus. The cinematic, modern marvelous is popular, and the best and most exciting films are, beginning with Méliès and Fantômas, the films shown in local fleapits, films which seem to have no place in the history of cinema." --Le Surréalisme au cinéma (1953) by Adonis A. Kyrou |
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Featured: |
Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He is best-known for his film A Trip to the Moon.
Contents |
Legacy
He was very innovative in the use of special effects. He accidentally discovered the stop trick animation, or substitution, in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour in his films. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality with the cinematograph, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the "Cinemagician."
Biography
He was born in Paris, where his family manufactured shoes. Before making films, he was a stage magician at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. In 1895, he became interested in film after seeing a demonstration of the Lumière brothers' camera. In 1897, he established a studio on a rooftop property in Montreuil. Actors performed in front of a painted set as inspired by the conventions of magic and musical theater. He directed 531 films between 1896 and 1914, ranging in length from one to forty minutes. In subject matter, these films are often similar to the magic theater shows that Méliès had been doing, containing "tricks" and impossible events, such as objects disappearing or changing size.
His most famous film is A Trip to the Moon (Le voyage dans la Lune) made in 1902, which includes the celebrated scene in which a spaceship hits the eye of the man in the moon. Also famous is The Impossible Voyage (Le voyage à travers l'impossible) from 1904. Both of these films are about strange voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne. These are considered to be some of the most important early science fiction films, although their approach is closer to fantasy. Agents of Thomas Edison bribed a theater owner in London for a copy of A Trip to the Moon. Edison then made hundreds of copies and showed them in New York City. Méliès received no compensation.
In addition horror cinema can be traced back to Georges Méliès's Le Manoir du diable (1896).
His 1899 short film Cleopatra was believed to be a lost film until a copy was discovered in 2005 in Paris.
In 1913 Georges Méliès' film company was forced into bankruptcy by the large French and American studios and his company was bought out of receivership by Pathé Frères. After being driven out of business Méliès became a toy salesman at the Montparnasse station. In 1932 the Cinema Society gave Méliès a home in Château d'Orly. Méliès did not grasp the value of his films, and with some 500 films recorded on cellulose, the French Army seized most of this stock to be melted down into boot heels during World War I. Many of the other films were sold to be recycled into new film. As a result many of these films do not exist today. In time, Méliès was rediscovered and honored for his work, eventually taking up stage performance.
Georges Méliès has been awarded the Légion d'honneur (Legion of honor).
Méliès died in Paris and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Filmography
Selected filmography
Georges Méliès directed hundreds of films including the following. For a full filmography see Georges Méliès filmography.
- Playing Cards (1896)
- The Haunted Castle (1896)
- Batteuse à vapeur (1896)
- Bébé et fillettes (1896)
- Le Bivouac (1896)
- The Vanishing Lady / Escamotage d'une dame chez Robert Houdin (1896)
- The House of the Devil / Le Manoir du diable (1896)
- Boulevard des Italiens
- Cleopatra (1899)
- Cinderella / Cendrillon (1899)
- The Dreyfus Affair / L'Affaire Dreyfus (1899)
- Jeanne d'Arc (1900)
- A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la lune (1902)
- The Man With The Rubber Head / L'Homme à la tête de caoutchouc (1902)
- Gulliver's Travels / Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et chez les Géants (1902)
- The Inn Where No Man Rests / L'Auberge du Bon Repos (1903)
- The Mystical Flame / La Flamme merveilleuse (1903)
- Faust in Hell (1903)
- Kingdom of the Fairies / Le Royaume des fées (1903)
- The Impossible Voyage / Voyage à travers l'impossible (1904)
- The Adventurous Automobile Trip (1904)
- Hilarious Posters / Les Affiches en goguette (1905)
- Palace of the Arabian Knights / Le Palais des Mille et une Nuits (1905)
- Paris to Monte Carlo / Le Raid Paris-Monte Carlo en deux Heures (1905)
- The Mysterious Retort / L'Alchimiste Parafaragamus ou La Cornue infernale (1906)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea / 20.000 Lieues sous les mers (1907)
- Humanity Through the Ages (1908)
- Conquest of the Pole / A la conquête du pôle (1912)
- Baron Munchausen's Dream / Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchausen (1911)
- The Ranchman's Debt of Honor (1911 - USA)
- The Knight of the Snows / Le Chevalier des Neiges (1912)
- Cinderella or The Glass Slipper / Cendrillon ou La Pantoufle mystérieuse (1912)
- The Ghost of Sulpher Mountain (1912 -USA)
- The Prisoner's Story (1912 - USA)
- Le Voyage de la famille Bourrichon (1913)
Currently available videorecordings
Due to a variety of factors, roughly 200 of Méliès's 531 films exist. These factors include Méliès's destruction of his original negatives, the French army's confiscation of his prints and the typical deterioration of the majority (an estimated 80 percent) of films made before 1950. New films have occasionally been discovered but the majority that were preserved come from the US Library of Congress, due to Gaston Méliès submitting paper prints of each frame of all new Star Films in order to preserve copyright when he set up the American branch of Star Films in 1902.<ref name=Wakeman2/>
- George Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (5-DVD, 173-Film Collection)
- George Méliès Encore: New Discoveries 1896-1911 (26-Film supplement to the above 5-DVD Collection)
- Films of George Méliès
- The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works
- Marvelous Méliès
- Méliès Le Cinémagicien
- Mes Mémoires
- Pioneers of the French Cinema, Volume One
Videorecordings
- Films of George Méliès
- The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works
- Marvelous Méliès
- Méliès Le Cinémagicien
- Mes Mémoires
- Pioneers of the French Cinema, Volume One
- Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father.
Popular culture
The work of Georges Méliès has been referenced a number of times in film, television and fiction, including:
- Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father.
- The 1956 film version of Around the World in Eighty Days features Le Voyage Dans La Lune at the Introduction.
- In Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film, La Chinoise, Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud) prefaces a lecture on current events with a discussion of who, in French cinema, was the true originator of the filming of current events, the Lumière brothers or Méliès. Guillaume makes the argument that Méliès, rather than the Lumières, was the true originator of current event films in French cinema.
- Queen's 1995 music video "Heaven for Everyone" features clips from Méliès' Le Voyage dans la Lune and The Impossible Voyage.
- The music video for The Smashing Pumpkins' 1996 song "Tonight, Tonight" was largely shot in the style of Méliès' best-known films, particularly Le Voyage Dans La Lune. The video also features a paddle wheel steamship named "S.S. Méliès."
- In the last episode of the HBO miniseries From The Earth to the Moon, Méliès was played by Tchéky Karyo.
- In 2003 The New York Guitar Festival commissioned the jazz composer/guitarist Bill Frisell to composes scores for five early films by Georges Méliès, including A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Bill Frisell's Trio presented the world premiere of the scores in January 2004 at two concerts taking place at the New York Guitar Festival. The performances were later broadcast on WNYC New York Public Radio.Template:Fact
- The contribution of Méliès to cinema history is the subject of the 2007 illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, and Martin Scorsese's 2011 film adaptation of it as Hugo with Ben Kingsley playing Méliès. The film recreates how the Méliès studio functioned, features several segments of early films by Méliès, and portrays the neglect and later recognition he received in his lifetime.
