Thanks to Martin Scorsese and his movie HUGO, most of the world now knows who Georges Melies is and where that iconic shot of the Man in the Moon with a projectile stuck in his eye came from. Up until now A TRIP TO THE MOON has been available in several different editions of varying quality from pretty good to downright awful. I think it is safe to say that this version from Flicker Alley should be the last word on the subject for where is there left to go? Not only do we get to see the film in a restoration of its hand colored version but there is the best looking black & white version that I have ever seen and I’ve seen plenty. Although it’s nice to have the hand colored version for viewing, I prefer the B&W one which resembles the 19th century illustrations of Gustave Dore’.
In addition to the two 15 minute versions there is a wonderful documentary, THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE that traces the history of the film from its origins in 1902 to the discovery of the hand colored fragment in the 1990s that resulted in this restoration. As with previous Flicker Alley editions, there are numerous extras including two other Melies shorts with an astronomical theme THE ECLIPSE (1904) & THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM (1898), a choice of musical backgrounds, and a booklet which gives background on Melies and how he made his films. Georges Melies thought A TRIP TO THE MOON to be one of his lesser works but acknowledged its popularity. I’m sure this deluxe set would have surprised and delighted him and he would have found the concept of DVDs not to mention Blu-Ray fascinating.
The Capsule Critic 