Le diable noir

This amusing Méliès feature has several of the kind of visual effects that made him famous, and most of them work quite well. The story starts when "The Black Imp" plays a series of practical jokes on an unwary traveler, and it then follows the battle of wits that ensues. The action that follows uses quite a few props, most of them simple everyday objects used in humorous and sometimes creative ways. Most of the camera tricks are done with skill, and the movie thus gets plenty of mileage out of some simple material. Most of it is fun to watch, and it's a good display of skill with the camera. It's definitely worth seeing if you have any interest in these earliest movies.

Méliès fans, I salute thee, this movie is, what I consider, the granddaddy of horror movies. The filming method is very conform to Méliès style, but the narrative (which everybody knows is a pretext for the magic tricks) is slightly different. The usual fantastic aspect leaves place for a paranoia induced story about a man tormented by a black imp, pulling some evil tricks on him, screwing up with his perception. Multiplication of chairs, furniture mysteriously changing place around the room...the poor man dosen't know what's going on until he finds out about the imp. Ensues a great fight between the man (armed with his broom) and the imp, which is continuing to use his mystical powers to mess around with the sleeper.

Very good movie for those interested in the genesis of horror films.

The black imp in the title is almost Satanic. He inhabits a room that is rented out to people. He is a menace. A poor guy gets the room and tries to put his coat in a dresser, but the dresser keeps moving around. At one point it goes up and up and then disappears. The best sequence in the film is one where the guy first causes several chairs to appear and then tries to get rid of them. Every time he throws one aside, another one takes its place. The whole thing ends disastrously for the guy. The special effects are really wonderful.

A man rents a room at an inn only to find that a mischievous imp wants the room for himself

This is a film by early film maker Georges Melies the man who single handedly effectively invented cinema special effects . Watching this short film that has a running time of less than four minutes it helps if you realise beforehand that despite having a title like THE BLACK IMP you're not going to be watching any type of horror film but instead is a slapstick comedy

The selling point of course are the effects achieved by jump cut replacement photography which fellow commentator and the much missed F Gwynplain MacIntyre explains was still being used in film and television in the 1960s and 70s

That said you have to be slightly forgiving when watching this short . Once you know how the special effects are done the film loses some of its magic . Also the whimsy and unrepentant slapstick sense of humour is rather overdone in the eyes of a perhaps more sophisticated audience so you have to watch it with a 1905 mentality in order to get the full benefit

Black Imp, The (1905)

*** (out of 4)

aka Le Diable noir

Also known as THE BLACK DEVIL, this here is another high point for director Melies. In the film a man checks into a hotel for some rest not knowing that he's about to be haunted by a demon living in the room. It starts off simple as the man can't seem to be able to hang his coat up but quickly turns to a chair disappearing below him and eventually the demon pops out for a quick scare. This is yet another film that Melies is best remembered for and it's funny to see how many times he actually did this story. There's no question he was a fan of checking in somewhere only to be haunted as it's a subject he'd use many times throughout his long career. The special effects with all the chairs and furniture are easy to spot but that really doesn't take away anything from the film because it's just so charming. You can't help but have a smile on your face as one item disappears after another and the man grows crazier and crazier.