Le monstre

Two minute show about a magician who takes a skeleton, and brings it to life. When he throws it at the poor girl who sits besides and watches in horror, the movie reaches its top. The sfx of this movie consists of very much noticeable clips, but it's really entertaining for those interested in the history of movies.

This is another typically macabre little number from visionary French pioneer Georges Melies which, while head and shoulders above the work of most of his contemporaries, is fairly inconsequential when compared to much of his output from the same year. It's a one-scene shot set against the sphinxes of Egypt and features the resurrection of a dead princess at the behest of an Egyptian prince. The princess's skeleton is removed from her coffin and brought to life by a magician. Shrouded in veils, she dances around manically for a while, performing unnatural contortions before turning back into a skeleton when her lovelorn prince attempts to kiss her. Enjoyable enough, but only average for Melies.

This little atmospheric short is about a couple of people in Egypt who are visited by a ghostly skeletal creature who rises out of a coffin that they have been transporting. Georges Méliès shows here once again that he was not only adept at visual trickery but was able to present it in an interesting way. The Egyptian setting is a nice touch and adds some exotic ambiance. The skeletal creature is manipulated in ways that are visually interesting. It dances around and is covered in sheets making it appear like a ghostly apparition. It rises high into the air and disappears into the ground. It even latterly turns into a woman. Of course, it's all very gimmicky but early films did not really tell stories at this point in history and Méliès did imbue his trick films with a definite charm. Le Monstre does sort of come off as a magician's show in many ways, but like a lot of his films it has been given a personality and the exotic flavour doesn't do it any harm at all.

With an egyptian backdrop and egyptian costumes, two people enter shot, one carries a coffin. A skeleton rises out of it while the man's back is turned. The man sits the skeleton down and dresses it with some white sheets. The skeleton begins dancing around riotously! The man performs various tricks for the other figure with the skeleton, making it turn into a woman, then making the woman turn back into a skeleton. Melies was a magician and a cinema innovator. He built his own cameras and studio, and is much more a descendent of movies than the Lumieres, who were more technicians than artists. Playfulness, inventiveness and creativity abounds in Melies. Lots of fun from the most creative man in the first years of cinema, Georges Melies.

The Monster is an interesting hyper short silent film from 1903 (Which is now the earliest feature I've seen).

It tells the story of an Egyptian Prince who pays a dervish to resurrect a dead lover. As grisly as it may sound it's actually very comical and rather playful. We see our corpse in comedic skits, dancing and the whole thing is quite ahead of its time.

Certainly The Monster suffers with limitations based upon the time of release such as the lack of music and less than flawless video quality but it makes up for this by being highly quaint and surprisingly funny.

I'm not a lover of silent cinema, for me the silence is deafening but 3 minutes is manageable and it allowed me to appreciate that they did something quite impressive with such restrictions.

The Good:

Looks great for its time

Oddly funny

The Bad:

Usual set of restrictions