Thursday, 18 May 2017

Georges Méliès - La Sirène [The Mermaid] (1904)

La Sirène(1904)
English Title: The Mermaid
French/Silent/B&W
Director: Georges Méliès
Stars: Georges Méliès

A magician conjures up a mermaid whilst fishing. 
Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, known as Georges Méliès (8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès, a prolific innovator in the use of special effects, accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour in his work. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician". His films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904), both involving strange, surreal journeys 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 The Haunted Castle (1896).

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