Georges Méliès
Known for: Directing
Georges Méliès (December 8, 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.
Filmography
Film
A Trip to the Moon
Professeur Barbenfouillis / La Lune
1902
Film
The Extraordinary Voyage
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
2011
Film
A Terrible Night
L'homme qui essaie de dormir
1896
Film
The Impossible Voyage
Mabouloff
1904
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
Self (archive footage)
1978
Film
Joan of Arc
Père de Jeanne
1900
Film
The Mysterious Retort
1906
Film
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
Self (archive footage)
2012
Film
The Mermaid
1904
Film
The Man with the Rubber Head
Аптекар / Гумова голова
1901
Film
The Melomaniac
1903
Film
Cinderella
le gnome de la pendule / le suisse à l'entrée de l'église
1899
Film
The Four Troublesome Heads
Фокусник
1898
Film
The Vanishing Lady
Фокусник
1896
Film
A Nightmare
Man
1896
Film
Whimsical Illusions
The Magician
1909
Film
Cinematógrafo 1900
Self (archive footage)
1979
Film
Playing Cards
Un joueur de cartes
1896
Film
The Magic of Méliès
Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
1997
Film
The Kingdom of the Fairies
Принц Бель-Азор
1903
Film
Le manoir du diable
Мефістофель
1896
Film
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoé
1902
Film
Bluebeard
Barbe-bleue
1901
Film
The Astronomer's Dream
Астроном
1900
Film
The Christmas Dream
Beggar
1900
Film
The Magician
Le Sculpteur
1898
Film
Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion
1898
Film
Tunneling the English Channel
1907
Film
The Bewitched Inn
The Traveler
1897
Film
The Temptation of St. Anthony
Saint Antoine
1898
Film
The Ballet Master's Dream
1903
Film
The Merry Frolics of Satan
Satan
1906
Film
Naval Combat in Greece
The Captain
1897
Film
The Devil in a Convent
The Devil
1899
Film
Le château hanté
Mephisto
1897
Film
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1907
Film
The Prince of Magicians
Excelsior
1901
Film
Summoning the Spirits
1899
Film
The Infernal Cauldron
Devil
1903
Film
The Conquest of the Pole
Le professeur Mabouloff
1912
Film
Jupiter's Thunderballs
1903
Film
The One-Man Band
All the members of the orchestra
1900
Film
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
Wrestler
1900
Film
Rip's Dream
Rip Van Winkle
1905
Film
The Christmas Angel
The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
1904
Film
The Diabolic Tenant
Le locataire diabolique
1909
Film
The Monster
The priest
1903
Film
Georges Méliès: The First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913)
Various Roles
2008
Film
The Méliès Mystery
Self (archive footage)
2021
Film
The Hilarious Posters
The Bill Poster
1906
Film
French Cops Learning English
The Police Inspector
1908
Film
Between Calais and Dover
The Man in the Checked Suit
1897
Film
Sure Cure for Indigestion
Doctor
1902
Film
The Untamable Whiskers
Man with whiskers
1904
Film
Faust and Marguerite
Méphistophélès
1904
Film
The Infernal Cake-Walk
Devil
1903
Film
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
Ulysses (uncredited)
1905
Film
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
1903
Film
Apparitions
1903
Film
The Mysterious Knight
Le chevalier mystère
1899
Film
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
The Man
1900
Film
The Pillar of Fire
1899
Film
Gugusse and the Automaton
Gugusse
1897
Film
The Mysterious Box
1903
Film
The Wonderful Living Fan
1904
Film
The Human Fly
The Hindoo Magician
1902
Film
A Desperate Crime
1906
Film
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
1903
Film
Extraordinary Illusions
1903
Film
Violons d'Ingres
Himself (archive footage)
1939
Film
Cleopatra's Tomb
un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
1899
Film
The Dreyfus Affair
Fernand Labori
1899
Film
The Famous Box Trick
The Magician
1898
Film
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
Professor of Astronomy
1907
Film
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
1905
Film
An Up-to-Date Conjurer
Magician
1899
Film
The Living Playing Cards
The Magician
1905
Film
Delirium in a Studio
Ali Barbouyou
1907
Film
The Black Imp
1905
Faust and Marguerite
Méphistophélès
1897
Film
A Roadside Inn
Drunk Traveler
1906
Film
The Doctor's Secret
1909
Film
A Midnight Episode
The Sleeping Man (uncredited)
1899
Film
The Witch
The Fairy Carabosse
1906
Film
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
1905
Film
The Magician's Cavern
1901
Film
Long Distance Wireless Photography
1908
Film
Satan in Prison
Satan
1907
Film
The Treasures of Satan
1902
Film
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
Self (archive footage)
2014
Film
Gala Méliès
Himself
1929
Film
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
1904
Film
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
Gulliver
1902
Film
The Bridegroom's Dilemma
Le marié
1898
Film
Les infortunes des patineurs
Passerby
1908
The Human Pyramid
1899
Film
Faust in the Underworld
Mephistopholes
1903
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
Le comique excentrique
1900
Film
Tit for Tat
1904
Film
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
1904
Film
The Dwarf and the Giant
1901
Film
Alcoléa & cie Documentary
2024
Film
Conjuring
Himself
1896
Film
The New Lord of the Village
Le fantôme de César
1908
Film
The Knight of the Snow
Devil
1912
Film
A Moonlight Serenade
1903
Film
The Marvellous Wreath
1903
The Indian Sorcerer
The Fakir
1908
A Funny Mahometan
The Funny Mahometan
1897
Film
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
The brahmin
1901
Film
The Cook in Trouble
1904
Film
The Oracle of Delphi
1903
Film
The Artist and the Dummy
Artiste
1900
Dancing in a Harem
1897
Film
The Devilish Plank
1904
Film
The Diabolical Church Window
1911
Film
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
The Roman
1908
Film
The Good Luck of a 'Souse'
Le commissaire de police
1907
Film
The Mystical Flame
1903
Film
The King and the Jester
Tribolet
1907
Film
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
The Executioner
1903
Film
The Magic Book
The Magician
1900
Film
The Clockmaker's Dream
1904
The Fortune Favors the Brave
Gnome
1908
Film
The Devil and the Statue
1901
Film
Not Guilty
The Old Farmer
1908
Film
The Magic Lantern
1903
The Temple of the Sun
1901
Film
Good Glue Sticks
1907
Beelzebub's Daughters
1903
Film
The Wandering Jew
1904
Film
An Impossible Balancing Feat
The Magician
1902
Film
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
Lamplighter
1903
Film
The Mysterious Portrait
L'illusioniste
1899
Film
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
The Magician / The Double
1904
Film
The Triple Headed Lady
1901
Film
The Lilliputian Minuet
1905
Film
Hat of Many Surprises
1901
A Maiden's Paradise
The Wizard
1901
Film
Satans Sacrilegious Saga
Devil
2025
Film
In the Barber Shop
1908
Film
A Mesmerian Experiment
1905
Film
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
Conjurer
1900
Film
The Prolific Magical Egg
1902
Film
A Fantastical Meal
The Man
1900
The Enchanted Basket
1903
Film
The Fugitive Apparitions
1904
Film
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
Prince
1900
Film
Méliès: Tales of Terror
The Melomaniac
2021
Film
The Firefall
Satan
1904
Film
The Imperceptible Transmutations
Prince
1904