Escamotage d'une dame au théâtre Robert Houdin

Magician and filmmaker Georges Melies enters stage right and introduces fashionably dressed Jeanne d'Alcy. He puts a newspaper on the floor. On the newspaper, Mr. Melies places a chair. He invites Ms. D'Alcy, who is standing patiently, to sit on the chair. She complies comfortably and begins to fan herself. Melies throws a cloth over the woman. A slip second later, he removes the cloth and the woman has disappeared. But bringing her back is not a simple as it looks. In the end, the cast takes a bow. Forgetting his chair enables Melies to take a curtain call. He deserves one; this short film is never boring.

****** Escamotage d'une dame au theatre Robert Houdin (1896) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies, Jeanne d'Alcy

The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin AKA The Vanishing Lady.

This one gives an idea of they were practicing and paying with film at the time. Films were still new in 1896 so this was something amazing to watch back then I'm sure.

5/10

"The Vanishing Lady" seems to be the earliest surviving trick film by Georges Méliès (a time-sensitive claim, to be sure). His first films were standard actuality films like those made by the Lumière brothers. One of his earliest films "Playing Cards" (Une partie de cartes) (1896) is, indeed, a remake of the Lumière film, "Card Game" (Partie de cartes) (1895). As the apocryphal story goes, Méliès accidentally discovered trick photography while filming a traffic scene. The camera jammed in the midst of filming, but he was able to get it to work again and resume shooting. The jump cut, or stop-substitution effect, made it appear that a carriage transformed into a hearse and that men turned into women. However, the Edison Company had already realized such an effect, furthered by splicing, such as in "The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots" (1895). Perhaps, Méliès was inspired by one of these films. After all, he did purchase films from the Edison Company to project at his Robert Houdin Theatre before he set out on making his own pictures. It's known that he did have a copy of "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" (1895)--a film that of which hand-colored prints were sold; Likewise, Méliès would offer hand-colored prints of his films at extra cost, which was the case with "The Vanishing Lady".

Thus, "The Vanishing Lady" isn't novel so much for its tricks; yet, it's novel for the presentation of those tricks. In "The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots", the stop-substitution effect serves the historical reenactment, and the filmmakers attempted to conceal the trick. Méliès's film, however, is for--is about--the tricks, with the magic act serving to present them. This seems to explain why the Edison Company found little use initially for stop action and editing until they later began to make imitations of Méliès's films. Moreover, as Tom Gunning has explained as the "cinema of attractions", these early films are about presentation and not, as in later narrative films, representation. Later, Méliès would also be instrumental in the development of narrative films.

The vanishing lady trick is based on an actual magic act by Joseph Buatier de Kolta, which Méliès surely could have reproduced on film if he so desired. Indeed, he had previously performed the act on stage at his Robert Houdin theatre. The newspaper bit was important for the traditional magic act, but is only a decorative relic here. Instead, for the film, he employs three stop-substitutions (or, to use a term that recognizes the importance of editing: "substitution splicing")--to make a woman disappear, to make a skeleton appear and then to make the woman reappear--which he would touchup by splicing. Méliès uses especial filmic effects for presentation and, in turn, makes the film about the presentation of this magic. Méliès had invented cinema magic.

There's another trick in this film. The stage setting, with the painted background, is an artificial set created for the film. Méliès, the true auteur that he was, was also responsible for the stage designs of his films. This film was actually filmed outdoors--probably at his garden at Montreuil--for the natural lighting (see the shadows). The film's original French title refers to the act taking place within the Robert Houdin theatre. This wasn't true for the filming of the act, but it was true for its exhibition when Méliès projected the film to his audience.

Vanishing Lady, The (1896)

*** (out of 4)

aka Escamotage de'une dame chez Robert-Houdin

A magician (played by Melies) brings a woman out on stage and makes her disappear and then he puts a skeleton in a chair and turns it back into the woman. This is a pretty entertaining little film, which shows various things that the director would go onto work with in the future. Of course, the magic scene has always been a big part of the director's career and the trick done here is very nice, although it's easy to spot the edit. The use of a skeleton would also be used countless times by the director in future films. The trick lasts just over a minute and will certainly keep a smile on your face.

Things happened fast in the first few years of film - less than a couple of years before, the Lumiere brothers showed their first film - workers leaving their factory, one minute's worth - at the Societe d'Encouragement a l'Industrie Nationale. In late 1896, George Melies made this film, which quite simply shows a woman changing into a skeleton & back again. He used stop action of course, which every kid with a video camera has done by now, but at the time it was sensational.

Melies made his name & fame with such camera tricks in the cinema's early days - but whether he was the first to do the stop-frame thing is contested, as an Englishman named G.A. Smith was experimenting with the same things at the same time.

I still think, though, this particular trick is kinda neat.