Customer Reviews

The Magic of Méliès

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This appears to be a redo of a DVD that Kino has as part of its DVD set The Movies Begin - A Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894-1913. It appears to have the same films by Melies that the earlier DVD had, but this new DVD also has the 20-minute documentary "Georges Méliès: Cinema Magician" directed by Patrick Montgomery and Luciano Martinengo. I just hope that Kino got rid of the one rather annoying aspect of the entire "The Movies Begin" set, which is the text notes that serve as a poor substitute for a commentary track.

Melies was one of the early pioneers in special effects for the movies, and he artfully combined medieval and Victorian views of society and science with modern technology. The result was often comedy blended with social commentary. The list of films include:

The Impossible Voyage (1904)
The Untamable Whiskers (1904)
The Cook in Trouble (1904)
Tchin-Chao, The Chinese Conjurer (1904)
The Wonderful Living Fan (1904)
The Mermaid (1904)
The Living Playing Cards (1905)
The Black Imp (1905)
The Enchanted Sedan Chair (1905)
The Scheming Gamblers Paradise (1905)
The Hilarious Posters (1906)
The Mysterious Retort (1906)
The Eclipse (1907)
Good Glue Sticks (1907)
Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908)

If you can afford the new DVD set Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913), that is probably going to be far superior to this set. However, this is probably a good economical introduction to Melies.

Do NOT buy this DVD. I found these prints unwatchable.

Although this DVD appears to be an excellent selection of Melies' best films, with good music accompaniment, the images are dirty and scratched; they are also too contrasty, which causes some of the darks to be SO dark that the picture blocks-up and you can't see what's going on in an important part of the screen. Worst of all, the frame-registration is not stable, so the picture constantly shakes up and down and around, which is very hard on the eyes and makes me sick to my stomach. I cannot watch these films without thinking about how old they are and how awful they look.

SAVE your pennies and BUY the big set from Flicker Alley, called "George Melies: First Wizard of Cinema". IF you like Melies AT ALL, you will never regret buying that wonderful set. David Shepard and his restoring associates have done a spectacular job of stabilizing the images, and cleaning up the films. Of course, not all the movies were capable of much restoration, but many look as pristine as the day they were first screened. "A Cook In Trouble" is a prime example. There is NO OTHER MELIES DVD around that comes anywhere CLOSE to the quality you will find on the Flicker Alley release.