L'Auberge ensorcelée

Among the films of Georges Méliès available today, this is the first to feature one of the cinema magician's most common trick film formulas--that of the weary traveler being tormented in his hotel room. Méliès's earlier films "A Terrible Night" (Une nuit terrible) and "A Nightmare" (Le cauchemar) (both 1896) established the outlines of a man's rest being interrupted, but here is the earliest available instance where he is at an inn, and the entire room seems to conspire against his restful night's sleep.

This was done by both theatrical and cinematic tricks. For instance, a splice of the filmstrip made a chair disappear as he tries to sit down, while his boots are pulled away on strings. These movements, appearances and disappearances of his clothing and the room's furniture end up driving the man to run out of the room in terror. Additionally, it shouldn't be overlooked how much Méliès's own performances in front of the camera added to the amusement of these productions.

This weary traveler at an inn genre was employed again in such Méliès's films as "Going to Bed Under Difficulties" (1900), "The Inn Where No Man Rests" (1903) and "The Black Imp" (1905) with variations on this theme in "A Roadside Inn" (1906) and "The Diabolic Tenant" (1909). Other filmmakers were quick to imitate and improve upon these films, as well, including Edwin S. Porter's "Dream of a Rarebit Fiend" (1906) and J. Stuart Blackton's "The Haunted Hotel" (1907).

L'AUBERGE ENSORCELE is probably Melies' most imitated single film: a traveler enters a hotel room and things don't just go wrong: they go terribly pear-shaped as beds vanish and reappear, boots walk off and pants fly away in a side-splitting combination of stage and film magic. I have seen variations from Edison, Booth, Gaumont and Melies redid this at least three times in increasingly elaborate variations. Still, there's always tremendous fun in seeing something done for the first time and Melies' sense of fun is always great to see.

This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.

This is a simple but highly appealing short film--and one of the very best from Georges Méliès' early work. Méliès was a stage magician who decided to incorporate magic into films and used a variety of techniques that were novel for the time to make his movie seem magical. Often, just by stopping and restarting the camera, he could make it appear as if things vanish or reappear! Nowadays, folks can easily see how this is done, but at the time it was hot stuff--so hot, other filmmakers started stealing his tricks and even made films that you swear were made by Georges Méliès himself!

"The Bewitched Inn" stands out because although it uses the standard sorts of camera tricks, it also has a wonderful sense of humor. So, not only do things appear and disappear, but the room appears to be deliberately antagonizing the poor man (as usual, played by the director himself). You really have to feel sorry for the guy, as again and again the room gets the better of him! Cute and well worth seeing.

A weary traveller (played by the film's director, Georges Méliès) settles down in a room for the night but is plagued by disappearing and reappearing items, and clothing that moves by itself. When his bed and chair vanish and come back, it all proves too much for the man, who leaves in a fluster.

Locking off the camera, stopping the film, moving the props, and then restarting the camera was cutting-edge stuff in 1897, and the result must have seemed like magic to the audience, but these days the same trick (and much more) can easily be achieved using a phone. Other objects in Méliès' pioneering 2 minute short are obviously moved by wires. Undeniably a landmark moment in the history of special effects cinema, but the fact is, to the vast majority of today's viewers, The Bewitched Inn will seem like extremely crude stuff, both technically and comedically.

An early Melies movie, and all the tricks must have seemed fantastical to audiences of the day. Today, it quickly grows repetitive.