Barbe-bleue

This lavish, well-crafted version of the legend of "Bluebeard" also contains plenty of distinctive touches from the great cinema pioneer Georges Méliès. He must have enjoyed making this story, which offers a good variety of material, and to which he added his own richly detailed background sets and special camera effects.

The first half of the story begins with Bluebeard about to be married for the eighth time, and while this part has none of the special effects for which Méliès is usually remembered, it's pretty good without them. The backgrounds are quite interesting, and there is a funny banquet preparation scene that combines wit and slapstick. The second half focuses on the grimmer part of the well-known legend, and in this part there are plenty of good visual effects to go with the story itself.

As was often the case with his movies, especially in his earlier years, Méliès planned for a spoken narration to accompany this when it was shown. Actually, the movie is probably good enough that most of it could probably stand on its own, with the possible exception of portions of the earlier scenes. The DVD release does have the narration, which makes sure that you don't miss any of the detail in this imaginative version of the story.

this movie has great backgrounds from the castle,the greatest moment is a real horror moment when the woman goes into the forbidden room and finds the hanged 7 ladies all former wives of bluebeard,another great moment is when the woman sleeps and dreams when the ghosts of the 7 dead wives and the dancing keys appears.

Bluebeard (1901)

aka Barbe-bleue

** 1/2 (out of 4)

An interesting if not totally successful film from Georges Melies. After seven wives have mysterious died, Bluebeard holds a contest to pick his eighth wife. Things are going as planned until the ghosts of the seven previous wives show up. This here is certainly a horror film from start to finish but it's a shame the film gets off to such a weak start. The ending, with the wives returning, is very well done.

In early 2008 a box set with over 170 Meiles films will be released and it's certainly long overdue.

I don't know the story of Bluebeard, so this ten minute motion picture is my first introduction. I could gather that he was wealthy and wanted to marry a recalcitrant woman. She reluctantly agreed and was given a huge wedding feast. After the wedding Bluebeard bestowed upon her the keys to his castle--and they were many--essentially telling her that the entire estate was at her disposal, except for one room. One room he made a big show about being off limits, then, laughably, he gave her the key to that room. So what do you think she did?

Of course, she entered the room where she saw the corpses (I'm assuming) of former wives.

I'm intrigued. I now must read the story of Bluebeard.

Free on YouTube.

Arguably, the first bona-fide horror film ever made. The scene where the wife goes to the cellar and finds the hanged bodies of the previous wives is genuinely chilling, and the eerie dream scene is very well done.

There is really no exaggerating of Georges Méliès' importance in the history of cinema, inventor of special effects, an early expressionist before expressionism even officially existed, a wizard creator of magical worlds, a canny surrealist a full two decades before surrealism was even born, a trickster and relentless comedian that knows no bounds: more than an innovator, Méliès is a genius.