Georges Méliès

by Elizabeth Ezra, Diana Holmes (Series Editor), Robert Ingram (Series Editor)

Before the turn of the 20th century, before the nickelodeon, even before the first cinemas, George Méliès began making movies. In addition to the fairy tales and fantasies for which he is best known, he made films in every genre from newsreels and commercial advertisements to science fiction and pornography. This major study of Méliès's films interprets his work using the tools of modern film analysis and explores several myths about Méliès's role in film history.

Genres: Film, Art, Nonfiction, History, Biography

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2000

Reviews

[Sir. Otterton loves the dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this thinking it was going to be a basic biography and I was delighted to be introduced to basic film theory also. I’ve been exploring the world of silent cinema on my own and came across Melies films and became enchanted. This little book is very dense, I listened to the audio while following along with the physical copy, but it’s still relatively easy to understand.

I am even more fascinated with Georges Melies after finishing this. I may be to re read this again to fully soak it in but I will do it happily.

[Terry Cornell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first became aware of Georges Méliès after watching the film 'Hugo'. In the film the Georges Méliès character is played by Ben Kingsley, and is loosely based on the real Méliès. Unfortunately since Méliès was French and most of his work was in France most material about his life is in French. This particular book is not so much a general biography of his life, but focuses more on his accomplishments as a pioneer film maker, and has descriptions and analysis of his cinematic productions. That is why I only give the book three stars. If you want to read a more well rounded bio, check out the Georges Méliès Wikipedia page.

Méliès' father owned a boot-making factory, and after attending school Georges worked there developing a great understanding of how various machines worked. He soon developed an interest in performing illusions and stage magic, including developing automata--self operating machines, or what we might call early robotics. He eventually managed to raise funds to purchase the theatre of magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. (the master escapist Houdini took his name from Houdin). Of course this was not a typical theatre, and included all the trap doors, illusions and other devices needed to master performing shows of magical illusion. As attendance dropped, Méliès attended a demonstration of early film-making and became an early pioneer of the art. In many of his works the same imagination used in creating his stage illusions is utilized in his cinematic works. Not only did he develop his own camera, he developed several techniques including early special effects, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, and substitution splices. He was also an early user of storyboards. Ezra's book is good for film students and those interested in film-making.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of the man and his work. In-depth biographical information on Méliès is hard to come by in English, and while much of the book is an analysis of his work, the biographical section packs in a lot of information. The rest of the book looks at Méliès as an auteur and dispells many of the persistent myths about him (for example, the idea that his work is more theatrical than cinematic).

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

In terms of my research on Méliès as a stylistic director this was exactly what I was looking for: gives a basic backstory of his life, but spends most of its time looking at the development of his art through both analysis and contextual history. On a personal level, I also related to Ezra's fierce defence of Méliès as a masterful and timeless storyteller.