El reino de las hadas

Kingdom of Fairies, The (1903)

*** (out of 4)

aka Royaume des fees, Le

Epic film from Melies was meant to be in the same league as his A Trip to the Moon but it doesn't reach that level. In the film, a Prince is about to marry a Princess but before the wedding a witch comes and kidnaps the Princess. The Prince must then go on a dangerous journey to get her back. The film uses spoken narration to tell the story, which is certainly needed because without it the movie really doesn't make too much sense. I think the biggest problem with the film is its story, which I found rather weak and it really couldn't get me involved with the film. Even with that said this is a must see because of the beautiful costumes and art design, which are among the best from this era of film-making. The entire film is hand colored, which is another plus because it adds a lot of beauty to the film. The best sequence in the movie is an underwater one where we get to see large lobsters and a man eating whale. Most of the devils are colored either red or blue and this added effect makes for a lot of fun as well. The film runs 16-minutes, which was certainly epic in the day and it never really gets boring and again, this is due to the incredible look more than the story itself.

Following on the heels of his hugely important A Trip to the Moon, Georges Méliès directed this feature. Like its predecessor it was another narrative film. It was one of several that the director made that fell into the fairy tale category. A princess is abducted by a witch and a gallant prince embarks on quest to save her. His adventure takes him to the ocean floor where he encounters fairies from the court of Neptune and is subsequently taken on a journey inside a giant whale. He then battles the witch and her minions in the final conflict.

There is a lot of great imagery here and it exists in a great colour tinted print. The fantastical underwater world is particularly nice. There are a lot of different sets for a film of this age. Many of them are quite elaborate and detailed. Like other films of the time it has no inter-titles, so it wouldn't be very easy knowing exactly what is going on without a narrator. Fortunately there are versions of this with a voice-over, which was how the feature was meant to be presented in any case. But even without this it is consistently very interesting visually and is a great little fantasy adventure. Méliès was easily the most important director of the earliest years of cinema and this feature quite clearly indicates why.

There's a lot of Gilliam and Kubrick to be found in Georges Melies fifteen minute phantasmagoria epic A Kingdom of the Faires made 30 an 40 years before they were born. Melies pulls out all the stops with this wildly color tinted happily ever after nightmare featuring hallucinogenic compositions and early experimentation with miniatures and fish tanks between camera and set.

A King insults a witch who exacts revenge by abducting the princess to a far off lair. The Prince pursues, has to undergo a series of challenges including a stop in Atlantis but ultimately vanquishes the witch with enormous assistance from the good fairy Aurora by drowning her.

Melies moves everything but the camera in this multi set-up (backdrop) picaresque struggle between good and evil lush in opulent design and color; epitomized in the stunning turn of the century pop-out book finale. Despite its creaky look Kingdom is filled with wildly etched compositions of audacity and comedy all from the mind and eye of the neglected pioneer Melies.

One of Melies' elaborate story productions, ranking with VOYAGE TO THE MOON, using camera tricks, sleight of hand, elaborate costumes and interesting model work. Technically it will look primitive to the modern eye -- the sets are clearly sets, the models clearly models -- but it is all done with Melies' verve and dedication. Certainly, the grotto and underwater sets are beautiful; he knew how to draw stonework.

Melies, I feel, remains the most accessible of the oldest directors, in large part because of the sheer sense of showmanship and joy that is evident in these works. His scenes, when they are not sleight-of-hand magic, are essentially tableaux, punctuated by acrobats. His tableaux are much more elaborate than other directors who use the form, providing a feast for the eye. Working, as he does in this movie, with familiar images, he elaborates them, whereas in VOYAGE TO THE MOON, he invents them and suggest them. The effect is -- there is no other word for it -- magical.

"Kingdom of the Fairies" is undoubtedly one of Georges Méliès's best féeries, or fairy films, alongside other such ones as "Blubeard" (1901) and, if you want to consider it as part of the genre, "Le Voyage dans la lune" (1902). It is also one of his best films in general. Its narrative follows the abduction of a princess by a wicked fairy/witch, and her subsequent rescue by the prince (played by Méliès)--an adventure which takes the prince and his men to the depths of the sea, where they meet the kingdom of the fairies, ride inside a whale to shore, and to the eventual rescue of the damsel from a burning castle. This was one of the most elaborate Star Film productions, with 20 some changes of scenery, a requirement of many costumes, and a runtime nearing 20 minutes.

Méliès consistently produced the best movie set designs of his era, but the ones in this film especially stand out, including the undersea design and the burning and collapsing castle. Even the miniature model scene of the ship sinking works, because, after all, it's fantasy. The aspect, however, that I particularly appreciate in these fairytale films is their frequent use of the fairy as a narrator, or manipulator of the characters and plot. Another good example of this can be seen in "Bluebeard", as well as in films by others, such as "The Magic Sword" (1901) and "Jack and the Beanstalk" (1902). One scene in "Kingdom of the Fairies" is especially remarkable: it's a vision scene projected by the wicked fairy to the prince and involves the changing of the scenery from the castle room to the vision and back to the castle room.

(EDIT: The hand-colored print now available on home video makes this film look even better.)