As a devotee’ of silent movies since seeing a Harold Lloyd compilation in 1962, I have always had a special place in my heart for the fantasy films of Georges Melies. For years all I knew was A TRIP TO THE MOON and THE DEVIL IN A CONVENT from stills. I first saw TRIP in college back in the 1970s. The print quality was bad and the speed was too fast but there was still something there that spoke to the inner child within which is still with me to this day. Finally with the advent of video technology 30 years ago it became possible to see Melies movies in their entirety. They still didn’t look great and the public domain music rarely fit but there they were. Flash forward to today.
What a difference a generation makes. Now it is possible to see almost all of Melies’ surviving output and to see it in prints almost as good as they were over 100 years ago. Interest in Melies and his movies has never been higher. With Martin Scorsese’s HUGO of a few years ago we have one great filmmaker saluting another by introducing him and his magical images to a mainstream audience. Flicker Alley and their partners did their part by issuing a number of Melies collections in the highest quality home video versions then available. Now they have surpassed themselves with MELIES: FAIRY TALES IN COLOR, a set that with its digitally restored images and replication of hand tinted colors is truly mind blowing when you consider the age of the source material.
There are 13 films in this collection ranging from 1 minute in length to almost half an hour. In addition to the ubiquitous A TRIP TO THE MOON there are several other story films that have left the realm of popular entertainment and now may be considered true art. JOAN OF ARC (1900) may be the first historical epic with amazing sets and numbers of extras parading through (done by reusing the same small group over and over). What is truly impressive is that this was all done on one very small studio stage. My personal favorites were RIP VAN WINKLE (1905) and ROBINSON CRUSOE (1902) which are chock full of unforgettable imagery like the sets and colors in ROBINSON and the ghosts and skip stepping villagers in RIP. THE KINGDOM OF THE FAIRIES (1903), THE IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE (1904), and THE MERRY FROLICS OF SATAN (1906) are all impossible to describe and just simply have to be watched.
All of the longer films including TRIP come with optional narration by Lobster Films’ Serge Bromberg adapted from Melies’ own synopses of these movies. I highly recommend that you use this option when viewing these titles. It not only adds a greater understanding of them but adds an element of Gallic charm thanks to Bromberg’s unmistakable French accent. That combined with the quality musical accompaniment by several different musicians and you have a one-of-a-kind release that every film aficionado, sound or silent, should have in their personal collection.
The Capsule Critic 