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 Extraordinary Voyage
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Devil in a Convent
The Devil
Cinderella
The Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church
The Impossible Voyage
Mabouloff
The Méliès Mystery
Self (archive footage)
Cinematógrafo 1900
Self (archive footage)
The Merry Frolics of Satan
Satan
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
Self (archive footage)
An Up-to-Date Conjurer
Magician
The Man with the Rubber Head
The Chemist / The India Rubber Head
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Professor of Astronomy
The Mystical Flame
The Haunted Castle
Mephistopheles
Satan in Prison
Satan
The Vanishing Lady
Magician
Bluebeard
Barbe-bleue
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
Self (archive footage)
The Astronomer's Dream
Astronomer
The Four Troublesome Heads
Conjurer
The Mermaid
The Conquest of the Pole
Le professeur Mabouloff
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoé
The Magic of Méliès
Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
The Diabolic Tenant
Le locataire diabolique
The Kingdom of the Fairies
Prince Bel-Azor
A Terrible Night
L'homme qui essaie de dormir
The Famous Box Trick
The Magician
A Nightmare
Man
Joan of Arc
Père de Jeanne
The Haunted Castle
Mephisto
Between Calais and Dover
The Man in the Checked Suit
The Hilarious Posters
The Bill Poster
Sure Cure for Indigestion
Doctor
Whimsical Illusions
The Magician
Jupiter's Thunderballs
The Temptation of St. Anthony
Naval Combat in Greece
The Captain
The Witch
The Fairy Carabosse
Rip's Dream
Rip Van Winkle
The Infernal Cauldron
Devil
The Magician
Le Sculpteur
The Mysterious Knight
Le chevalier mystère
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
Cleopatra's Tomb
un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
Delirium in a Studio
Ali Barbouyou
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
The Roman
The Living Playing Cards
The Magician
The One-Man Band
All the members of the orchestra
Playing Cards
Un joueur de cartes
The Prince of Magicians
Excelsior
Faust in the Underworld
Mephistopholes
The Christmas Angel
The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
The Monster
The Pillar of Fire
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
Ulysses (uncredited)
The Bewitched Inn
The Traveler
The Woes of Roller Skaters
Passerby
The Oracle of Delphi
A Fantastical Meal
The Man
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
The Man
Hat of Many Surprises
Fortune Favors the Brave
Gnome
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
Conjurer
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
The Executioner
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
Gulliver
The Ballet Master's Dream
The Devilish Plank
Faust and Marguerite
Méphistophélès
The Melomaniac
The Dwarf and the Giant
A Roadside Inn
Drunk Traveler
The Infernal Cakewalk
Devil
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
The Treasures of Satan
A Desperate Crime
The King and the Jester
Tribolet
The Christmas Dream
Beggar
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
The brahmin
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
The Wandering Jew
The Black Imp
The Untamable Whiskers
Man with whiskers
French Cops Learning English
The Police Inspector
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
Prince
The Cook in Trouble
The Mysterious Retort
The Devil and the Statue
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
Wrestler
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
The Magician / The Double
The Dreyfus Affair
Fernand Labori
Apparitions
An Impossible Balancing Feat
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
Lamplighter
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
Le comique excentrique
The Indian Sorcerer
The Fakir
The Diabolical Church Window
A Mesmerian Experiment
The Mysterious Box
The Magic Book
The Magician
The Human Pyramid
A Moonlight Serenade
Violons d'Ingres
Himself (archive footage)
The Fugitive Apparitions
Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion
Conjuring
Himself
Gala Méliès
Himself
The Human Fly
The Hindoo Magician
The Doctor's Secret
The Knight of the Snow
Devil
Long Distance Wireless Photography
The Magic Lantern
The Temple of the Sun
The Mysterious Portrait
L'illusioniste
The Wonderful Living Fan
Good Glue Sticks
The Clockmaker's Dream
The Prolific Magical Egg
The Marvellous Wreath
Musketeer
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
Not Guilty
The Old Farmer
Tit for Tat
Alcoléa & cie Documentary
The Lilliputian Minuet
The Firefall
Satan
The Artist and the Dummy
Artiste
Beelzebub's Daughters
Summoning the Spirits
The Magician's Cavern
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
The Triple Headed Lady
A Midnight Episode
The Sleeping Man (uncredited)
Méliès: Tales of Terror
The Melomaniac
Tunneling the English Channel
The Enchanted Basket
A Maiden's Paradise
The Wizard