Cinemagician Georges Méliès is best known for his groundbreaking films Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904), both loosely based on the stories of Jules Verne. Following their colossal success, the prolific cinematographer made hundreds more trick film fantasies like this charming short, Princess Nicotine (alternately titled The Smoke Fairy). It’s no wonder he earned the title Father of Special Effects.
EDIT: Oh noooo… did a wee bit more research on this clip. It’s actually NOT Méliès! Princess Nicotine was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, who also created the first animated film. Woops! My bad.
November 16th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Thank you! That was just lovely!
Have you, by any chance, read _Flicker_, by Theodore Roszak (1991), in which silent-film director Max Castle imparts subliminal pro-Cathar messages in the interstices between frames?
November 17th, 2007 at 2:06 am
I love it that Gladys Hulette is listed in the cast as Elder Fairy, would look good on any CV.
Thanks for posting this find, great linkage as always.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Oh, I loved that! My favorite was the box turning into the rose petals that dance around the table! So cool, thanks for posting that!
November 17th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Fritz, Flicker is such a trip, it definitely deserves a blog of its own.
Read it in school while taking a crash course in avant garde film, and really enjoyed it, maybe as much because it openly mocked academia as because it was such a dense tome of obscure film-related trivia.
Shirley Temple has given me the heebie jeebies ever since.
November 18th, 2007 at 3:33 am
Yeah. I have always liked to play “Bye Bye Blackbird” on the ukulele, but it’s never been the same…
I’m really jealous of Méliès mastery of beginner’s mind. (The medium was brand new of course, so he had a leg up, but still…) It’s like watching my daughters learn to draw: “So… this is a pencil? Okay, let’s see what it’s capable of.”
November 18th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Ah! Finally got some time to watch this - how wonderful! From her jig to the music - perfection. One drawback, however - it made me want to smoke!
January 28th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I understand that, Zoetica! I watched this clip and promptly lit a cigarette.
I love movies/clips like this, there’s always a romanticism to silent movies.