
Georges Méliès
Georges Méliès (December 9, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come. A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician". Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896). In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · A Collection of Silent Films, Given Sound as The Gnome of the Clock, a halberdier
- 2024 · Alcoléa & cie Documentary as
- 2021 · Méliès: Tales of Terror as The Melomaniac
- 2021 · The Méliès Mystery as Self (archive footage)
- 2019 · Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese as Magician (archive footage from "The Vanishing Lady")
- 2014 · El hombre que quiso ser Segundo as Self (archive footage)
- 2012 · The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès as Self (archive footage)
- 2011 · The Extraordinary Voyage as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
- 1997 · Méliès' Magic Show as Divers
- 1979 · Cinematógrafo 1900 as Self (archive footage)
- 1978 · Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma as Self (archive footage)
- 1939 · Violons d'Ingres as Himself (archive footage)
- 1929 · Gala Méliès as Himself
- 1912 · The Knight of the Snow as Devil
- 1912 · The Conquest of the Pole as Le professeur Mabouloff
- 1911 · The Diabolical Church Window as
- 1909 · Whimsical Illusions as The Magician
- 1909 · Fortune Favors the Brave as Gnome
- 1909 · The Diabolic Tenant as Le locataire diabolique
- 1909 · The Doctor's Secret as
- 1908 · French Cops Learning English as The Police Inspector
- 1908 · Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler as The Roman
- 1908 · The Woes of Roller Skaters as Passerby
- 1908 · Not Guilty as The Old Farmer
- 1908 · Long Distance Wireless Photography as
- 1908 · The King and the Jester as Tribolet
- 1908 · The Indian Sorcerer as The Fakir
- 1907 · Satan in Prison as Satan
- 1907 · Good Glue Sticks as
- 1907 · Tunneling the English Channel as
- 1907 · The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon as Professor of Astronomy
- 1907 · Ali Barbouyou and Ali Bouf, In Oil as Ali Barbouyou
- 1907 · 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as
- 1906 · The Witch as The Fairy Carabosse
- 1906 · The Mysterious Retort as
- 1906 · The Merry Frolics of Satan as Satan
- 1906 · A Roadside Inn as Drunk Traveler
- 1906 · A Desperate Crime as
- 1906 · The Hilarious Posters as The Bill Poster
- 1905 · The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship as
- 1905 · Rip's Dream as Rip Van Winkle
- 1905 · Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus as Ulysses (uncredited)
- 1905 · The Palace of the Arabian Nights as The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
- 1905 · A Mesmerian Experiment as
- 1905 · The Lilliputian Minuet as
- 1905 · The Black Imp as
- 1905 · The Living Playing Cards as The Magician
- 1904 · The Christmas Angel as The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
- 1904 · The Firefall as Satan
- 1904 · The Wandering Jew as
- 1904 · The Impossible Voyage as Mabouloff
- 1904 · The Mermaid as
- 1904 · The Devilish Plank as
- 1904 · The Cook in Trouble as
- 1904 · The Wonderful Living Fan as
- 1904 · Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer as
- 1904 · The Clockmaker's Dream as
- 1904 · The Untamable Whiskers as Man with whiskers
- 1904 · The Fugitive Apparitions as
- 1904 · Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter as
- 1904 · A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself as The Magician / The Double
- 1904 · Tit for Tat as
- 1903 · A Moonlight Serenade as
- 1903 · The Terrible Turkish Executioner as The Executioner
- 1903 · Faust in the Underworld as Mephistopholes
- 1903 · The Ballet Master's Dream as
- 1903 · The Magic Lantern as
- 1903 · Alcofribas, The Master Magician as
- 1903 · Extraordinary Illusions as
- 1903 · Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid as
- 1903 · Jupiter's Thunderballs as
- 1903 · Apparitions as
- 1903 · The Infernal Cauldron as Devil
- 1903 · The Kingdom of the Fairies as Prince Bel-Azor
- 1903 · The Monster as
- 1903 · The Melomaniac as
- 1903 · The Oracle of Delphi as
- 1903 · The Mystical Flame as
- 1903 · The Mysterious Box as
- 1903 · The Infernal Cakewalk as Devil
- 1903 · Misfortune Never Comes Alone as Lamplighter
- 1903 · Beelzebub's Daughters as
- 1903 · The Marvellous Wreath as Musketeer
- 1903 · The Enchanted Basket as
- 1902 · Robinson Crusoe as Robinson Crusoé
- 1902 · Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants as Gulliver
- 1902 · Sure Cure for Indigestion as Doctor
- 1902 · An Impossible Balancing Feat as
- 1902 · The Human Fly as The Hindoo Magician
- 1902 · The Treasures of Satan as
- 1902 · A Trip to the Moon as Professor Barbenfouillis / The Moon
- 1902 · The Prolific Magical Egg as
- 1901 · The Dwarf and the Giant as
- 1901 · The Man with the Rubber Head as The Chemist / The India Rubber Head
- 1901 · The Devil and the Statue as
- 1901 · Hat of Many Surprises as
- 1901 · Bluebeard as Barbe-bleue
- 1901 · The Prince of Magicians as Excelsior
- 1901 · The Temple of the Sun as
- 1901 · A Maiden's Paradise as The Wizard
- 1901 · The Magician's Cavern as
- 1901 · The Triple Headed Lady as
- 1901 · The Brahmin and the Butterfly as The brahmin
- 1900 · The Christmas Dream as Beggar
- 1900 · Joan of Arc as Père de Jeanne
- 1900 · The Artist and the Dummy as Artiste
- 1900 · Going to Bed Under Difficulties as The Man
- 1900 · The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match as Wrestler
- 1900 · The One-Man Band as All the members of the orchestra
- 1900 · A Fantastical Meal as The Man
- 1900 · The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head as Conjurer
- 1900 · Up-to-Date Spiritualism as Le comique excentrique
- 1900 · The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy as Prince
- 1900 · The Magic Book as The Magician
- 1899 · The Dreyfus Affair as Fernand Labori
- 1899 · Cinderella as The Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church
- 1899 · Summoning the Spirits as
- 1899 · The Human Pyramid as
- 1899 · The Pillar of Fire as
- 1899 · The Mysterious Knight as Le chevalier mystère
- 1899 · An Up-to-Date Conjurer as Magician
- 1899 · The Devil in a Convent as The Devil
- 1899 · The Mysterious Portrait as L'illusioniste
- 1899 · A Midnight Episode as The Sleeping Man (uncredited)
- 1899 · Cleopatra's Tomb as un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
- 1898 · The Four Troublesome Heads as Conjurer
- 1898 · The Astronomer's Dream as Astronomer
- 1898 · The Temptation of St. Anthony as
- 1898 · Pygmalion and Galatea as Pygmalion
- 1898 · The Magician as Le Sculpteur
- 1898 · The Famous Box Trick as The Magician
- 1897 · The Haunted Castle as
- 1897 · The Bewitched Inn as The Traveler
- 1897 · Naval Combat in Greece as The Captain
- 1897 · Between Calais and Dover as The Man in the Checked Suit
- 1897 · Faust and Marguerite as Méphistophélès
- 1896 · A Nightmare as Man
- 1896 · The Haunted Castle as Mephistopheles
- 1896 · Conjuring as Himself
- 1896 · The Vanishing Lady as Magician
- 1896 · Playing Cards as Un joueur de cartes
- 1896 · A Terrible Night as L'homme qui essaie de dormir