La sirène

This Georges Méliès short feature has some pretty good visual effects once it gets going. Some of the special effects are very familiar from other Méliès features, but there is also some original material that is at times quite creative.

As do a number of Méliès films, this one starts with a stage performer doing a routine. This part of it is rather bland, and although there are a couple of interesting tricks, it is really only a preface to the main sequence underwater, which is thematically set up by some tricks with fish.

Once it gets to the actual "Mermaid" sequence, the movie really hits its stride. There are a couple of times when the camera tricks are a bit obvious, and maybe not quite up to Méliès's usual standard, but most of the other shots are rather nice. As it goes along, the visuals get more elaborate and more creative, so it's worth watching all the way through despite the slow start.

There is indeed a mermaid who is trying to deal with humans who can't seem to get along. There are goldfish and other wet things. We are treated to a lot of running around and going nowhere (or at least not too far). The mermaid has unique qualities. The stop action tricks are haphazard at best and have been done by this man so often.

During the dawn of cinema, no filmmaker was more creative and fantastic than the French magician turned director Georges Méliès, the man behind countless classic fantasies. "The Mermaid" is among his many efforts and it enraptures his style more so than most of his other movies can. Méliès, himself, plays the lead role as a magician who shows off some of his finest tricks before finally summoning a mermaid as a sort of climax to his act. The film is comical and light in tone and is likely to leave most viewers with a bright, shining smile across their lips, and many will be able to find that stem in their brain that encourages all of the wonderment and excitement of childhood.

The editing here is clearly revolutionary for its time, although it may seem ridiculously flawed and obvious nowadays, back in 1905 it was anything but. Classic camera tricks are constantly being used to their full advantage as Méliès playfully shows off his skills in the crafts of magic and cinema (or, should I say, cinemagic).

In this silent-era black-and-white film, Georges Méliès showcases his stage magician roots by performing a series of tricks with a hat-primarily pulling out various animals, including several fish and a rabbit. The objects he conjures become increasingly large and elaborate, culminating in the appearance of a mermaid.

From there, the story shifts into a fantastical sequence where the mermaid transforms into a human and back again, now accompanied by the magician, who transforms himself into the King of Atlantis. In many ways, the second half of the film feels like a surreal precursor to modern aquatic fantasies-imagine a blend of Aquaman and Disney's recent adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

While the tricks may no longer surprise today's viewers, they are impressive examples of the creativity and innovation that early filmmakers like Méliès brought to the screen to captivate their audiences.

There's something a bit 'samey' about this four minute short from French wizard Georges Melies. It takes place on a stage containing an aquarium from which Melies scoops water which he deposits into an upturned top hat. Melies then proceeds to fish in the hat, placing his catches in the aquarium. Later, he pulls rabbits from the same hat before placing the aquarium centre-stage and closing in on it so that we can see the mermaid living inside it.

Although the use of trick photography throughout means a lot of preparation and planning must have gone into the film's making, it has the feel of being thrown together. Melies changes from a well-dressed magician to a rustic looking tramp and back again for no apparent reason and the rabbit trick seems pointless, wandering, as it does, from the aquatic theme of the rest of the film.