Le locataire diabolique

This latter day George Méliès film is basically another of his trick shorts. In it a man moves into an unfurnished room and proceeds to decorate it with a selection of furniture and family members which he improbably pulls out of a small bag. Like all of the director's inventive shorts it's very well presented. And fully colour tinted as well, which is a great bonus. The special effects are simple yet effective and carefully rendered. Like other Méliès features it has a good sense of humour too. However, when you take into account the more elaborate narrative features that Méliès had already produced several years before, such as A Trip to the Moon and Kingdom of the Fairies, this does seem like quite regressive. Maybe it indicates why this famous innovator's career never really evolved any further, as he seemed to be essentially still making the same sort of films at a time of great change and evolution in the cinematic medium in general. A great shame, as he was easily the greatest presence in cinema in first decade of its existence. That said, this is still a very fun flick and one that is still a lot more fun to watch than most others from the time.

I've seen quite a few Melies film over the last couple of years - mostly in roughly chronological order - and watching them in this way drives home just how impossible he found it to adapt to the changing times. Like Emile Reynaud before him, Melies failed to evolve, and essentially ended up repeating the same story over and over by simply varying small details. He could easily have staged this film, in which the devilish tenant of the title produces the furniture for his new dwelling from a carpetbag, as a basic magic show, because there isn't really much of a story. Melies film career would pretty much be dead within another five years, which is a sad thing - had he been able to harness that incredible energy that is evident in every frame of this stencil-coloured film to develop all aspects of his filmmaking talents he might have gone on indefinitely...

Only recently have I discovered the marvelous and very early films of the French genius Méliès. I call him a genius because his films are so inventive, so different and unique that he clearly transcended his contemporaries. Whereas the average films of his day were almost plot less and dull by today's standards, many of his films are still terrific in the 21st century.

This movie, named THE DEVILISH TENNENT in Enlish, is packed full of the most amazing trick camera-work and even features hand colored cels--giving it a color look well before the days of Technicolor. Sure the color isn't perfect, but for its day it was amazing--especially since all six minutes of the film is in color--not just a tiny portion. And when it comes to camera tricks, the entire movie is one trick after another! A man moves into an apartment with just a suitcase. But, it's magical and he is able to pull out paintings, furniture, a piano, a fireplace and eventually even his entire family out of the suitcase--in a most convincing fashion for 1909. Then, later when he doesn't have the money for the rent, he packs everything up and disappears--leaving a BIG surprise for his landlord! This is just one of those "you gotta see it to believe it films"--as no review can do this amazing work justice.

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.

This colorful and creative Georges Méliès feature takes a basic gag idea and uses it as the basis for several minutes of interesting and entertaining camera tricks. It is also one of the few surviving Méliès movies that have hand-tinted color, and while the color of the print has now somewhat faded, it still looks good enough to enhance the overall effect.

The story starts with a man renting an unfurnished room, and then most of it is simply a wide variety of visual effects as the tenant furnishes his new apartment with things that he amazingly pulls out of a carpetbag. It's interesting and very detailed, and if you've ever seen "Mary Poppins", the basic effect is remarkably similar to the scene in which Mary moves into the Banks home and furnishes her room. The special effects in Méliès's movie are not as polished, but on the other hand it gets even more mileage out of the idea.

This feature was made somewhat later than were most of Méliès's best-known movies, but it's easily one of the finest efforts of his later years as a film-maker. It takes one basic idea and makes it into an interesting and imaginative film.

Devilish Tenant, The (1909)

aka Locataire diabolique, Le

*** (out of 4)

Georges Melies film about a man who rents an apartment and furnishes the entire thing with one box. It's easy to see how the trickery was done in this film but that doesn't take away from the fun. The real highlight is the wonderful ending of how the man finally gets rid of everything.

In early 2008 a box set with over 170 Meiles films will be released and it's certainly long overdue.