Der Mann mit dem Gummikopf

Georges Méliès had been using the trick of multiple-exposure photography (or superimpositions) since at least "The Cabinet of Mephistopheles" (Le cabinet de Méphistophélès) (1897) (a lost film). One of his earliest and best surviving examples of this trick remains "The Four Troublesome Heads" (Un homme de têtes) (1898). By 1901, he and nearly every other filmmaker had employed the trick in dozens to hundreds of films. He took the gimmick about as far as he could in this form with the sevenfold exposure of "The One-Man Band" (L'homme orchestre) (1900). In other words, the effect could use some new life, even by then. Méliès gave it just that with "The Man with the Rubber Head".

It appears to be the first film, or at least the earliest surviving or available one, in which the director discovered the fantastical and amusing possibilities of enlarging or shrinking one exposure while not the other. He loved it so much that his next two films listed in the Star catalogue (and also available on the Flicker Alley set) employed the same technique. As usual, other filmmakers, too, were quick to imitate his work; one example might be the giant ogre in Walter Booth and Robert W. Paul's "The Magic Sword" (1901) (although it's contested who did it first - see my review of "The Magic Sword" for more details). For the growing and shrinking head in "The Man with the Rubber Head", Méliès moved towards and away from the camera via a chair and pulley for one exposure, which was to be joined with the other of the chemist (also Méliès) and his assistant. All of this was done in-camera and thus required precise execution. Méliès's body excepting his head was covered by black as to prevent exposure (i.e. masking). A stop-substitution (or substitution-splicing) was used for the explosion of the head-this trick was even more tired than superimpositions.

It's also worth noting that this is, in a way, a rare and early use of the close-up by Méliès. It's actually one of the earliest close-ups of the face that I've seen or know of (not counting the medium close-up popularized by "The Kiss" (1896) - that not being as close of framing). Other early close-ups tended not to be of the face, such as the magnified objects in George Albert Smith's "As Seen Through a Telescope" and "Grandma's Reading Glass" (both 1900). Méliès's close-up is also interesting because it's the reverse or ersatz of a dolly or trucking inward shot-moving the actor rather than the camera. The dolly shot becoming a close-up was later used as the attraction in single-shot Biograph films "Hooligan in Jail" (1903) and "Photographing a Female Crook" (1904). Méliès's close-up also remains within the long-shot framing of the outer exposure.

The very early French film director Méliès was super-famous for his trick cinematography. He deserved this fame for such standout films as Le Voyage Dans le Lune and I personally think he was the greatest movie maker of his age. Compared to Edison and Lumiere's films, his movies were always superior--featuring great sets, stories and camera-work. And, compared to later luminaries such as D. W. Griffith, I think Méliès' films are much more watchable today.

This film features the director's disembodied head as the star. Believe it or not, this was not very unusual for Méliès, as I have seen several films where his disembodied head performs! This is very clever and funny and it differs in this case because the head it enlarged again and again using a pump until it ultimately explodes! And, for the year it was made, it looked amazingly real! Funny stuff indeed.

If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.

This amusing Georges Méliès feature makes good use of a simple idea, and it features some camera tricks that are very nicely done for 1901. This is one of many movies that show Méliès himself as he makes use of his considerable talent and imagination, and here, as in many of his movies, he also seems to be having an awfully good time doing it.

The idea of "The Man With the Rubber Head" is the kind of offbeat, slightly macabre concept that Méliès seemed to be able to come up with almost effortlessly. It resembles a number of his other features from around the same time, in using multiple screen images of his own head as a source of special camera effects and humor, which in this case is sometimes of a rather morbid kind. It works quite well, and the quality of the effects is, as is almost always the case in a Méliès film, quite high, especially given its age.

Melies had a sense of playfulness about his films, and this is one of the more amusing ones: Melies takes a head -- which is Melies' head -- attaches it to some bellows, and blows it up like a balloon. True, there's no deep thought involved, but there needn't be. It's less than a minute and easily sustains the one joke.

Melies was inventing techniques as he went along, borrowing from other media, just as D.W. Griffith shortly would. There is an exuberance in seeing something done for the first time that is sorely lacking in later uses of the same editing effect. I suppose it's because Melies was having fun himself.

Man With The Rubber Head, The (1901)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka L'Homme à la tête en caoutchouc

This here is one of the director's best known and most loved films and that's understandable due to the wonderful magic created here. Meiles once again plays the magician who puts a head (again Meiles') on a table and blows it up to a large side, lets the air out and then blows it back up again. This is certainly one of the director's best films as it's guaranteed to keep a smile on your face the entire time. The special effects are very well done and hold up quite well today but the highlight is certainly the ending but I won't ruin that for you. If you're new to the director's work then this here would be a great place to start.