Georges Méliès (partially found silent films from French director; 1890s-1910s)

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Revision as of 08:32, 22 September 2019 by TropesAreDangerous (talk | contribs) (I added a Variety magazine article that discusses a flipbook, which may contain a paper print of the Méliès film ''Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincennes''. I also fixed the broken video link and added the video of the flipbook.)
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This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its lack of information on the subject(Documenting what is known about the most sought after films for instance) and lack of concrete references.



George Melies.jpg

Filmmaker George Méliès.

Status: Partially Found


NOTE: Because of Georges' massive filmography, any information on his missing films should be put here. Nearly half of his 500+ films are still missing, many with very minimal information. This is to prevent hundreds of articles on his films, many of which would be very short and lacking information.[1]

Georges Méliès is often cited the "First Magician of Cinema".[2] Starting out his career as a stage magician, he was introduced to film by its French inventors during a tour. He invested his time and money into constructing a film studio. After some initial financial struggles, he went on to become one of the most successful and influential filmmakers of his time.

Méliès was most well-known for his innovations in special effects. His films often have a very surreal, dreamlike feel to them. Other filmmakers of his time used special effects that look dated by today's standards, but Melies films have aged far better.

Méliès slowly fell out of popularity by World War I, as audiences became disillusioned of his dreamlike visions, and George went bankrupt. He had to shut down his business and destroy most of his master negatives in order to sell the silver contained in the film to pay off his debts. It wouldn't be until close to Méliès' death that his films would be recognized for their historical importance.

Of the over 500 Méliès films created (and documented) a total of only 231 exist today. His films are some of the most commonly sought-after lost films of his era. Some films exist only in their black-and-white versions with many of his colorized versions (which were hand-tinted frame by frame) still missing.

Among the most recent films discovered was a colorized copy of his most treasured film A Trip to the Moon. It was found in an abandoned barn after having survived harsh weather conditions.

In 2013, Kobold Charakter Animations launched an investigation into a flipbook that may contain a surviving print of Méliès film Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincennes. However, the low quality has made it difficult to identify whether the pictured station is Vincennes Station. Additionally, some film historians believe that the book may be depicting the film The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station by Auguste and Louis Lumière.[3]

Lost Filmography

Film Description Notes
Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb is a silent short horror film depicting the resurrection of Cleopatra. It features a man in an Egyptian Tomb cutting up an Egyptian mummy, causing her to rise from the "smoking brazier". Was thought to be found in 2005. Was really a different film by Méliès that was misidentified
The Cave of the Demons Horror Film
Red Riding Hood The plot of the traditional fairy tale occurs, until the wolf is put on a spit and roasted
Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincenne This short film only lasts a few seconds and shows a train arriving at Vincennes Station. It is unclear whether the film is truly lost. An antique flipbook has surfaced containing moving images of a train pulling into a station. However, it has not been conclusively identified as the Méliès film

Recovered Footage

The colorized version of Melies' renowned film, A Trip to the Moon.

Unidentified antique flipbook, which may contain a surviving print of Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station

References

  1. Melies' filmography, including the status of each of his films. Retrieved 19 Mar '16
  2. Wikipedia article. Retrieved 19 Mar '16
  3. [1] Retrieved 22 Sep '19