1. Le Voyage Dans La Lune ( A Trip to the Moon) 1902
Directed, Produced and Screenplay by Georges Melies (he also played the president of the scientists' council, made the tea and cleaned the floors).
Short Synopsis
A scientist proposes a trip to the moon in a lecture hall, his motion is accepted and he and several other scientists take a trip on a cannon-propelled, bullet-shaped spaceship to the moon, where they are forced to take cover in a crater due to a heavy snowfall -- yeah, I know -- in the cave they meet the hostile Selenites who attack the scientists and take them to meet their leader. The scientists destroy the leader and escape back to earth, landing in the sea.
Review
It is hard to have a notion of the impact that this film would have made 104 years ago. Firstly, it was much longer than anything that people were used to. Instead of a two minute film of workers leaving a factory, or a train like the Lumiere brothers did, this is a drawn out and astoundingly long 14 minutes (a little less actually, depending on your version). Ok, that is not that impressive. Still, 7 times longer than the majority of films at the time.
Then, although the film might look at times, particularly during the preparations for the departure of the shuttle, like an amateurish school play, the truth is that you can't help but be astonished by the brilliant set design. The landscape of the moon, with the earth rising, the crater full of mushrooms -- that Melies certainly sampled -- the Selenite's palace and the scene under the sea all have astounding sets.
True, this is no Matrix or Lord of the Rings when it comes to special effects. But it is quite amazing how the technical use of editing for special effects was quite advanced. When the Scientists attack the Selenites, these blow up in dust clouds, in a clever use of editing. Of course the special effects are not seamless, but the 21st century more jaded and trained eye can certaily see a lot more problems that the audience at the time.
All in all, a very enjoyable experience and mostly a damn cute film. As it is available on Google Video and is so short, there is really not much of an excuse not to watch it. Here's a link for you.
Final Grade
7/10 (if we were in 1902 it would have been a 12)
Trivia
The Smashing Pumpkins' video for Tonight Tonight is basically a rip off, sorry, loving tribute to this film.
Man, was Melies high.
posted by Francisco Silva @ 8:57 PM
2 Comments:
At 7:29 PM,
Geoffrey Hogswash said…
I try to watch silent films through the eyes of someone around at the time of release rather than through the cynical eyes of a modern film viewer. Let's face it, cinema, especially in its earliest moments, hasn't aged well.
The fact that Le Voyage Dans La Lune stands up today as more than a curiosity that it's almost entertaining at times, is a tribute to it's magic.
Melies was a magician, and he saw the possibilities the camera had, for illusion and trickery. So with brilliant set designs and slick editing, Melies is able to take the viewer to another world. His influence on modern cinema (especially on the Lucas, Spielberg type of filmmaking) cannot be overstated.
There's no great story here but this is a great film. Sure there are dull moments but the sheer imagination that went into it is impossible to fathom. Melies, is indisputably, the father of cinema.
At 9:32 PM,
Francisco Silva said…
Jack: It's particularly impressive in the way that he was the first to make a truly fictional story with a semblance of a plot. It was very early days but he truly had a vision for the potentialities of cinema, which then evolved really fast. 35 years later they were doing Snow White and 37 years later Gone With The Wind.
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