Dislocation mystérieuse

Having watched many of these early Melies films, the disembodied are a regular staple. But this one is special because while the clown that is at the center of the scene sits on a chair, his arms leave him an retrieve things for him. At another point, he splits into six parts and does all kinds of craziness. It is pretty seamless too. Don't miss this one.

Extraordinary Illusions (1901)

*** (out of 4)

aka Dislocation mystérieuse

Neat little film from master director Meiles has him playing a clown who sits in a magic chair and various things begin to happen. The big key of magic in this film is that the clown stays in one spot while his arms, legs, head and eventually body begin to move to other places. There are two tables away from the chair and we get several gags of the arms having the move away from the body to get to these tables. The special effects must have really blown people's minds back when this was released because they remain quite good even after one-hundred years. There are some nice laughs as well but again, the main reason to watch this are the wonderful effects.

A clown clad in white enters a cave and sits down on a bench. Suddenly, one of his arms detaches and moves about the place! It then reattaches and the other arm pops off and then reattached. This then happens to his head, legs, and they all spin about the cave.

This is an amazing film for 1901. Even when seen today, you can't help but wonder how they achieved this realistic looking effect. Well, filmmaker Georges Méliès was also a trained stage magician and you can really see this aspect of him in this film. Fun to watch and timeless.