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