O Mágico

This early Georges Méliès feature is excellent, and even remarkable, for a movie made in 1898. Its level of creativity and technical skill are rarely found even in movies made several years later. The story itself is short and not very elaborate, but for a minute or so it keeps you enthralled by the interesting visual effects and illusions, and by how well they work for something made so early in the history of the movies.

Méliès likely modeled this feature after portions of his earlier stage routines, but it's clear that he quickly realized the added potential of film in creating illusions that would impress the viewer. Méliès and a female assistant perform a series of tricks that are similar in style to those familiar from stage magicians of all eras, but some of these could not have been done without the use of film. Disappearances and transformations form most of the illusions, and they are both fun to watch and impressive to see.

What's even more impressive is that this is not the only early Méliès feature to show such skill. Like a number of his other movies, this is worth seeing in itself and as a sign of things to come.

It was kinda all over the place, pure nonsense. It was still kinda cool, though, seeing how old it is.

A very cute and funny film short from George Melies. Worth watching if you want like magic and comedy. It's less than 2 minutes long and worth the time to watch it if you enjoy film shorts.

10/10

Georges Méliès made a ton of films where he played a magician doing a stage act in front of the camera. And, using various camera tricks, he was able to make things disappear and re-appear as well as a lot of general craziness. In "Le Magicien" it's all a tad different, as instead of his usual style, this one is much faster and packs a lot of 'magic' into a little over a minute. It's all very good but also very familiar.

By the way, if you care, the clown-like character in white was Pierrot...a character from the Italian Commedia Della'Arte...a popular performing group during the 17th-19th centuries. Georges Méliès seemed obsessed with him and had his appear in dozens of his films...and I'm not exactly sure why.

Melies introduces us to a magician who performs various tricks where things appear and reappear. He stands before a table which at times acts like a chest, allowing him to leap into it and turn into a clown. There is little new here because Melies has done this kind of thing several times in other short films. Still, the creativity is there and he makes us pay attention.