Cast

Georges Méliès

Directing

Cast

Georges Méliès

Known for

Directing

Born

1861-12-08

From

Paris, France

Died

1938-01-21

Also known as Жорж Мельес, 조르주 멜리에스, Marie Georges Jean Méliès

Biography

Georges Méliès (December 8, 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.

Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès

Biography

A Trip to the Moon

A Terrible Night

The Mysterious Retort

Robinson Crusoe

The Melomaniac

Whimsical Illusions

The Extraordinary Voyage

Pygmalion and Galatea

Cinematógrafo 1900

The Magician

A Nightmare

The Man with the Rubber Head

The Ballet Master's Dream

The Christmas Dream

Cinderella

Bluebeard

The Vanishing Lady

French Cops Learning English

Le château hanté

Summoning the Spirits

Between Calais and Dover

The Kingdom of the Fairies

Joan of Arc

Faust and Marguerite

Tunneling the English Channel

Le manoir du diable

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Apparitions

The Impossible Voyage

The Bewitched Inn

Gala Méliès

The Astronomer's Dream

A Desperate Crime

The Four Troublesome Heads

Extraordinary Illusions

The Mermaid

Naval Combat in Greece

Playing Cards

Rip's Dream

The Prince of Magicians

Cleopatra's Tomb

Delirium in a Studio

The Merry Frolics of Satan

The Temptation of St. Anthony

Jupiter's Thunderballs

Alcofribas, The Master Magician

Satan in Prison

The Magic of Méliès

Sure Cure for Indigestion

Faust and Marguerite

Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer

The Magician's Cavern

The Dreyfus Affair

Satans Sacrilegious Saga

The Mysterious Box

Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler

The Famous Box Trick

The Infernal Cake-Walk

The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès

Faust in the Underworld

The Marvellous Wreath

Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus

Going to Bed Under Difficulties

Beelzebub's Daughters

The Monster

The Cook in Trouble

The Diabolic Tenant

The Conquest of the Pole

The Mysterious Knight

Hat of Many Surprises

The Devil in a Convent

The One-Man Band

The Prolific Magical Egg

Les infortunes des patineurs

The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship

The Doctor's Secret

The Hilarious Posters