Le diable noir

Méliès fans, I salute thee, this movie is, what I consider, the granddaddy of horror movies. The filming method is very conform to Méliès style, but the narrative (which everybody knows is a pretext for the magic tricks) is slightly different. The usual fantastic aspect leaves place for a paranoia induced story about a man tormented by a black imp, pulling some evil tricks on him, screwing up with his perception. Multiplication of chairs, furniture mysteriously changing place around the room...the poor man dosen't know what's going on until he finds out about the imp. Ensues a great fight between the man (armed with his broom) and the imp, which is continuing to use his mystical powers to mess around with the sleeper.

Very good movie for those interested in the genesis of horror films.

The black imp in the title is almost Satanic. He inhabits a room that is rented out to people. He is a menace. A poor guy gets the room and tries to put his coat in a dresser, but the dresser keeps moving around. At one point it goes up and up and then disappears. The best sequence in the film is one where the guy first causes several chairs to appear and then tries to get rid of them. Every time he throws one aside, another one takes its place. The whole thing ends disastrously for the guy. The special effects are really wonderful.

This is not Melies best work but it is a cute, fun little film short. It's about a imp in a room that a man has rented to stay the night. The man gets ready for bed but the imp decides to play some games with the guest.

7/10

The jump cut was the key element in early movie conjurer Georges Melies bag of tricks, and as he grew more experienced in the production of films so his use of this trick grew more sophisticated. This ingenious little movie shows off Melies' adeptness to good effect, and it's clear that a lot of imagination has been used in a simple tale.

A mischievous devil appears in a hotel room and is just preparing for a snooze when a traveller enters the room. Angered by this intrusion the devil plays a series of tricks on the traveller (who is played by Melies) until he drives him to near madness so that he has to be escorted from the room by hotel staff.

The use of the jump cut is used to good effect here, and they are particularly effective thanks to their unusual seamlessness. Usually in these early films it's easy to see where the cut has taken place. In this film, even though our knowledge of the technique means we know the exact moment when it has been used, very often here we can't actually see the cut. Definitely one of Melies' better films.

This is another fun and inventive film from director Georges Méliès. Like many of his others, it's film that is basically a means for Méliès to display his skills with film trickery. Also, like many of his films he demonstrates his skills within an imaginative setting, so the movie retains a great deal of charm. The film depicts the actions of a devilish imp, who has invaded an apartment. He disappears and reappears all over the room at will. When a poor unfortunate man enters the scene, the imp torments him with his magical mischief. This involves furniture moving at will all over the room, with a clever sequence involving multiplying chairs. The main trick that Méliès uses in Le Diable Noir is stop-motion photography and it's only fair to say that he uses it very well. It's been put together with such care that it's not all that easy to notice when the jump-cut has been made. Like many of the directors other works the overall feel of the film is playful as opposed to menacing. Definitely a nice little flick to watch if you are interested in the very earliest films ever made.