Movies: Georges Méliès

An indebted French family flees its creditors in this comic picaresque, one of pioneering French director George Méliès last films....

Two travellers are tormented by Satan from inn to inn and eventually experience a buggy ride through the heavens courtesy of the Devil before he takes one of them down to Hell and roasts him on a spit....

This Georges Melies film is only available in a five-minute fragment. The film starts off with a title card setting up the events. An elderly miser keep all of his money to himself and refuses to help people no matter what they might need. We see him...

In this film, Méliès concocts a combination fairy- and morality tale about the foolishness of trying to look too deeply into the workings of an unstable and inscrutable universe. At a medieval school, an old astronomer begins to teach a class of youn...

Magic tricks in a medieval setting....

St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!...

A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion....

A box of valued jewels is placed inside the tomb of Delphi. A thief breaks into the tomb and steals it, but soon the ghost of Delphi appears and puts a curse on him....

Méliès appears as a court jester (a “triboulet” in French). He pulls 18th century noblemen out of a trunk and arranges them on a pyramid-shaped stage. Next, he transforms the gentlemen into fancy ladies....

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking...

A photographer has an accident which not only screws up his lab but dumps a great deal of debris into the street below, causing general chaos....

A science fantasy film that deals with an extraordinary race to the north pole by rival parties of balloonists. Based on the novel "The Adventures of Captain Hatteras" by Jules Verne....

An incident of the Franco-Prussian War. It shows the bombardment of a house at Bazeille. It is the animated reproduction of de Neuville's celebrated painting....

Georges Méliès adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, the first film adaptation of the story. Filmed in black & white, Méliès would then paint the film by hand to colour it. Originally a 15 minute film, twelve and a half minutes of painted film have been fo...

A wall full of advertising posters comes to life....

A man takes off his clothes in preparation for bed, only for new clothes to spontaneously generate, leading to comical consternation....

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Georges Méliès's first attempt at Cinderella was in 1899. That film was extraordinary then for having multiple scenes and a semblance of a narrative; additionally, the use of dissolves as transitions in it influenced other filmmakers for years to do ...

A prestidigitator orders his assistant to bring a cabinet, which is displayed piece by piece to the audience. Two gentlemen are then introduced; they enter the cabinet and are securely bound with ropes to the chairs. The doors are closed and immediat...

The seven-minute film takes place inside a classroom where some cops are learning English....