Les aventures de Robinson Crusoé

As of October 13th, 2012, this movie has a 5.0 vote based on the ratings of 42 users. I strongly invite you not to consider those votes, for a very simple reason: the movie they have seen is actually a 1 minute black and white fragment; only recently an (almost) complete copy of the movie has been found and restored. It now runs 12 minutes and 30 seconds, and it's not black and white but actually hand-tinted. And what a wonderful movie it is! A must-see for any silent movie lover, in the spirit of Voyage dans la lune. Without spoiling anything, it contains a trick Méliès never used before and rarely since; and in just 13 minutes manages to capture the spirit of Daniel Defoe's novel, and at the same time to be a "truly" Méliès movie.

It sure helps if you know the story of "Robinson Crusoe", as this really is NOT a complete or even comprehensible recreation of the story. Instead, Georges Méliès recreates several scenes from the film. However, they really don't have any explanation as to what's occurring, no intertitle cards (they were not yet invented) and is very fragmentary. However, I still give it a relatively high score because there are complex sets (for 1903) and lots of costumes. While today none of this looks very exciting, for 1903, the film maker really outdid himself and this was, believe it or not, a high budget production. Just try watching some other 1903 films and you'll see what I mean. I also wonder if perhaps originally this might have been an longer and less fragmentary film. Who knows?

Contrary to IMDb's date, this Georges Méliès adaptation of Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" was actually produced at the end of 1902, in a fifteen-minute "feature-length" spectacle enhanced with lovely sets and beautiful coloring. Like "A Trip to the Moon" (from the same year) and others, it was a smashing success and one of the most ambitious films of the year, made at that point in history when Méliès was truly the among the top filmmakers of the time. The Lumière Brothers, who had refused to sell him a film camera back in 1895, had long since lost any real audiences in film production (assuming they were even very active producing films at this point, which is doubtful); Edison in the United States attempted similar trick films like those of the cinemagician, which never quite matched the same creativity and charm of their rival; even Pathé, one of the largest film companies at that point, was not quite as ambitious as Méliès. And no wonder; the quality of "Robinson Crusoe" (original title "Les aventures de Robinson Crusoé") is incredible for the time period; maybe not quite as elaborate as "A Trip to the Moon", but with the same inventiveness that makes all the filmmaker's lengthier pictures successes.

"Les aventures de Robinson Crusoé" is a rarer film in the director's catalogue, for the simple fact it is more a work of realism and adventure than a work of fantasy. It was seldom Méliès ever wandered into realism (with the obvious exceptions of his later slapstick comedies in the mid-1900s and his early actualities in the 1890s) and only a few other 'feature-length' productions of his ventured into this category: "Joan of Arc" (1900) and "The Barber of Seville" (1904, now a lost film) to name some that come to mind. Despite this film taking place on an island, the sets are always painted, but elaborately so and give the film more the fantastical feel of a Méliès picture. The action scenes are well-handled in addition, despite again being more realistic elements than the usual fairies and imps found in other films of the director.

However, the ability to appreciate such things comes with the survival status of the film, which has varied. For a long time the only available print of "Robinson Crusoe" was a minute-long fragment featuring three scenes from the fifteen-minute original: the shooting of the savages pursuing Crusoe (Méliès) and Friday; the two arriving at their hut only to be attacked by more savages; and the one showing Crusoe attempting to educate Friday without success. In 2012, a much more complete copy was discovered that does not only include nearly all of the scenes and runs nearly eleven minutes, but is in bright and brilliant hand-color, a treat that brings to life the imagery in a way like never before. A few scenes remain missing, but the story is now much more complete, and for anyone interested, this print has now been uploaded to YouTube.

As for the plot, it is only a loose adaptation, meaning it focuses little on the actual details of the book (which I read several years ago). There is also a limited number of effects for Méliès, although he sneaks in as many technical innovations as is possible, such as a miniature set to show the sinking ship against the rocks in the opening scene, and a 'new' effect of his that involves flashing superimpositions of clouds and strikes of lightning against the sky during the storm scene. Despite a claim that this was the first time the filmmaker had utilized the latter effect, it is actually not as novel as one might suppose, having been done once before in "Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon" (1899), the sixth installment of Méliès's serial "The Dreyfus Affair". Oddly enough, he appeared to have forgotten this execution of the effect three years previously, as his Star Film Catalogue with the descriptions penned by Méliès claims it is new and puts strong emphasis on the concept.

Overall, a little-recognized spectacle in the director's catalog, mostly due to the fragmentary status and only now being available on YouTube in its nearly-complete form. A sad thing, considering it is handled quite well as an action film and definitely outweighs any films produced by Edison or Pathé at this point in film history.

Les aventures de Robinson Crusoé (1903)

aka Robinson Crusoe

This Georges Melies film is included on Flicker Alley's "MELIES ENCORE" collection but sadly the only thing available are just a few fragments running just over a minute. Since there aren't any title cards it's going to be important for the viewer to already know the story. However, with that said, even if you do know the story then it might be hard to pick up on what's actually going on. The first scene has Crusoe fighting off some men coming after him. The second scene has him in a cottage just sitting around. I'm not sure how much of this movie is missing or if it was originally an "epic" like A TRIP TO THE MOON but at least the studio included it on the release. It's hard to judge the film in its current state but hopefully the full thing will show up at some point.