Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès (December 9, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come. A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).
In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.
Known for
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
Self (archive footage)
A Trip to the Moon
Professor Barbenfouillis / The Moon
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
Magician (archive footage from "The Vanishing Lady")
The Mermaid
The Impossible Voyage
Mabouloff
The Kingdom of the Fairies
Prince Bel-Azor
The Extraordinary Voyage
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Man with the Rubber Head
The Chemist / The India Rubber Head
The Haunted Castle
Mephistopheles
Cinderella
The Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church
The Haunted Castle
The Living Playing Cards
The Magician
The Astronomer's Dream
Astronomer
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
Self (archive footage)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
An Up-to-Date Conjurer
Magician
The Monster
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
Ulysses (uncredited)
The Bewitched Inn
The Traveler
The Infernal Cauldron
Devil
Joan of Arc
Père de Jeanne
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
The Man
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
Wrestler
The Wandering Jew
The Treasures of Satan
The Four Troublesome Heads
Conjurer
The Magic Lantern
The Untamable Whiskers
Man with whiskers
Naval Combat in Greece
The Captain
Bluebeard
Barbe-bleue
A Nightmare
Man
The One-Man Band
All the members of the orchestra
The Méliès Mystery
Self (archive footage)
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
The Vanishing Lady
Magician
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoé
The Christmas Angel
The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
The Clockmaker's Dream
The Prince of Magicians
Excelsior
The Devil in a Convent
The Devil
The Infernal Cakewalk
Devil
The Mystical Flame
Playing Cards
Un joueur de cartes
A Terrible Night
L'homme qui essaie de dormir
Satan in Prison
Satan
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Professor of Astronomy
The Christmas Dream
Beggar
Jupiter's Thunderballs
The Merry Frolics of Satan
Satan
The Mysterious Knight
Le chevalier mystère
The Pillar of Fire
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
Self (archive footage)
The Ballet Master's Dream
Extraordinary Illusions
Summoning the Spirits
The Diabolic Tenant
Le locataire diabolique
The Human Fly
The Hindoo Magician
The Temptation of St. Anthony
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
Gulliver
Between Calais and Dover
The Man in the Checked Suit
Hat of Many Surprises
The Dreyfus Affair
Fernand Labori
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
The Executioner
Whimsical Illusions
The Magician
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
Apparitions
Cinematógrafo 1900
Self (archive footage)
The Magician
Le Sculpteur
Tunneling the English Channel
The Conquest of the Pole
Le professeur Mabouloff
Faust in the Underworld
Mephistopholes
Rip's Dream
Rip Van Winkle
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
Alcoléa & cie Documentary
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
A Fantastical Meal
The Man
The Hilarious Posters
The Bill Poster
Tit for Tat
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
The Roman
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
Cleopatra's Tomb
un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
A Roadside Inn
Drunk Traveler
The Magician's Cavern
Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion
The Witch
The Fairy Carabosse
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
The brahmin
The Devilish Plank
The Marvellous Wreath
Musketeer
Ali Barbouyou and Ali Bouf, In Oil
Ali Barbouyou
The Dwarf and the Giant
The Prolific Magical Egg
The Famous Box Trick
The Magician
Sure Cure for Indigestion
Doctor
The Mysterious Box
The Fugitive Apparitions
The Doctor's Secret
A Moonlight Serenade
Good Glue Sticks
The Woes of Roller Skaters
Passerby
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
Conjurer
The Magic Book
The Magician
The Black Imp
An Impossible Balancing Feat
Conjuring
Himself
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
A Mesmerian Experiment
Long Distance Wireless Photography
The Diabolical Church Window
The Oracle of Delphi
The Devil and the Statue
Fortune Favors the Brave
Gnome
The Mysterious Portrait
L'illusioniste
The Mysterious Retort
A Midnight Episode
The Sleeping Man (uncredited)
Not Guilty
The Old Farmer
Faust and Marguerite
Méphistophélès
French Cops Learning English
The Police Inspector
The Melomaniac
The Triple Headed Lady
Violons d'Ingres
Himself (archive footage)
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
The Magician / The Double
The Knight of the Snow
Devil
The Indian Sorcerer
The Fakir
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
Prince
The Human Pyramid
The Temple of the Sun
Gala Méliès
Himself
The King and the Jester
Tribolet
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
Le comique excentrique
The Wonderful Living Fan
The Lilliputian Minuet
A Maiden's Paradise
The Wizard
The Artist and the Dummy
Artiste
Beelzebub's Daughters
Méliès' Magic Show
Divers
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
Lamplighter
The Firefall
Satan
A Desperate Crime
The Cook in Trouble
The Enchanted Basket
Méliès: Tales of Terror
The Melomaniac