Les illusions fantaisistes

My first reaction is that this is nothing spectacular for Melies: ordinary stage conjuring, done with plenty of verve and pleasure in his presentation, and just enough under-cranking to add special vivacity to his presentation. However, the print that is preserved is beautifully hand-tinted and still, after ninety years, preserves lot of color. So it's good to look at.

But what a thing to do to Santa Claus!

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.

1909's "Whimsical Illusions" was one quick and sweet short that showcases a magician at work with his helper. And you the viewer will notice his transformative work as a potted plant even appears. Most notable is seeing a skeleton. For real this probably wasn't like anyone's middle school magic show still it was a fun quick little entertaining watch and joy! Thru the years these films are looked at as gateway and cult like classics that helped pave the way for other silent shorts. And with the magic theme it was an escape for any viewer. As with it's colorful backdrop and moving of objects this is one short to make the viewer wonder.

Melies reprises the magic show motif. He basically dresses the scene and then uses every prop he can imagine and a truly delightful box to demonstrate amazing visual tricks. Of course, everything is stop action but with the color and the quickness, the things we've seen before are fresher. There has a been a quality uplift. Melies does a nice job as the magician.

A magic show performed by Méliès himself which is made truly magical by his use of stop cuts and substitutions. Pretty cool that he figured out this early form of special effect, and what it could be used for. Even for such a simple five minute short, there is such irreverence here, as he pulls a large potted plant out of his assistant's backside for goodness sake. He also yanks the ornate costume off an Egyptian(?) man and presto! A skeleton appears and waves his arms and legs about. He puts scholarly robes around a sculpted bust and voila! A man resembling Santa begins walking about, and then Méliès proceeds to dismember him(!) with a giant mallet. Man, that was rather dark! I loved it. Less successful (and I have to believe this was true even at the time) was the bat being floated about by a wire visible against the dark background. Fun stuff though.