Le diable noir

"The Black Imp" of the title is man dressed from top-to-toe in a devilish black costume. He seems happy in a room with a bed, bureau, two tables and a chair. Apparently, this is a room for rent. A tenant is brought by the building's owners (or managers) as the imp disappears in the bureau. The new arrival begins to get comfortable, but the imp has other plans. Furniture begins to appear and disappear in the room. The new tenant becomes more and more frantic. Chairs appear to multiply, but he can't sit down. "The Black Imp" is happy having the room to himself, and wants to get rid of the tenant...

***** Le diable noir (1905) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies

This is not Melies best work but it is a cute, fun little film short. It's about a imp in a room that a man has rented to stay the night. The man gets ready for bed but the imp decides to play some games with the guest.

7/10

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.

Director Georges Méliès was the greatest film maker of his day. Unlike the films of Lumiere and Edison, his films told complex stories and had a lot of very, very funny and amazing stunts--probably due to his earlier career as a magician.

In this short film, a devil is shown bounding about an apartment--appearing and disappearing at will. Soon, a man enters and is soon tortured by the imp. First, furniture appears and disappears--chasing the man around his apartment. Then, when the devil appears, the man chases him and tries to hit him, but he keeps appearing and disappearing and it soon becomes obvious there is nothing he can do to stop him! This film is one stop-motion camera trick after another and is super high-paced and funny. Despite its age, it's well worth seeing.

If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.

The jump cut was the key element in early movie conjurer Georges Melies bag of tricks, and as he grew more experienced in the production of films so his use of this trick grew more sophisticated. This ingenious little movie shows off Melies' adeptness to good effect, and it's clear that a lot of imagination has been used in a simple tale.

A mischievous devil appears in a hotel room and is just preparing for a snooze when a traveller enters the room. Angered by this intrusion the devil plays a series of tricks on the traveller (who is played by Melies) until he drives him to near madness so that he has to be escorted from the room by hotel staff.

The use of the jump cut is used to good effect here, and they are particularly effective thanks to their unusual seamlessness. Usually in these early films it's easy to see where the cut has taken place. In this film, even though our knowledge of the technique means we know the exact moment when it has been used, very often here we can't actually see the cut. Definitely one of Melies' better films.