Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.
Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies' , Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.
This picture depicts the eruption of the volcano by which over 30,000 souls were hurled into eternity. The numerous explosions which took place during the eruption are plain to be seen. Thousands upon thousands of tons of molten lava, sand, rocks and steam are thrown high in the air and descend with crushing force upon the unfortunate inhabitants of the doomed city of St. Pierre. This is the worst calamity which occurred since a similar eruption by Mt. Vesuvius when Pompeii was destroyed. (Lubin Catalog)
A magician along with three doppelgangers perform an elaborate balancing act.
Country rube thinks what he sees on the movie screen is real. He jumps out of his seat to try to stop a kissing scene.
“This is an absolutely new and extraordinary subject. A juggler takes in succession about a dozen eggs out of his servant's mouth. He breaks all the eggs into a hat, and after having beaten them up after the manner of a cook, he extracts an egg as large as the hat itself. As soon as he sets this egg on the table there appears a tiny dancing girl, full of life, as big as a baby's doll, and who performs on the table some beautiful stage dances. All of a sudden she increases to the size of a ordinary woman, and jumping on the floor she delights the audience with her turns. The juggler and the dancing girl disappear in the most extraordinary way.” (Méliès Catalog)
A baker's assistant throws a handful of dough at a rat. The dough sticks to the side of a barrel and the assistant proceeds to sculpt the dough into various faces and shapes. There is some experimental use of stop motion.
The setting of this fantastic scene represents the hall of an old chateau in which a miser has locked up seven large bags containing his wealth. Satan, who has made his way into the chateau, puts the seven bags in a strong box, and makes with his hands some cabalistic motions. The miser comes into the hall and is greatly astonished to find his fortune missing. He opens the coffer and immediately the bags leap out. He gathers them up and puts them back into the coffer. When he opens it again he finds that they have been transformed into seven young girls, who rush out and chase after him, beating him unmercifully. They shut him up in the coffer from which his gold has vanished. The miser pushes open the lid of the coffer, and to his profound despair finds that both young girls and money have disappeared. (This view is most sensational in its mysterious scenes.) (Star Film Catalog)
A human skeleton is placed upon a table by an attendant. When the attendant leaves the room the skeleton begins kicking his legs and throwing his arms about and suddenly turns into a magician. The magician produces an egg, performing several sleight-of-hand tricks, and places it upon the table with the small end downward. He then crudely draws a human face upon the shell, and the egg immediately begins growing larger and larger until it reaches the size of a normal head.
A wonderful midwife helps a rich couple pick out a baby from her cabbage patch.
Georges Méliès' adaptation of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is most distinguished, today, for being a color film of the classic story. Color was rare in 1902 (and many years after) as non-tinted color has to be hand painted on the film; this was an arduous task. Also notable is the film's short running time of approximately five minutes. Much of the original work is not covered, but viewers were expected to be familiar with the story, and enjoy the filmed highlights. There are a couple of scenes missing; according to contemporary reports, Gulliver's shipwreck was certainly included. You can do a lot in a few minutes, as Mr. Méliès includes a re-make of his own "Une partie de cartes" (1896), which already looked like something previously covered by the Lumière Brothers.
A policeman is run over by an automobile
A woman shows off her trained dogs.
A dissipated man sits at a table with a decanter of whiskey and a glass beside him. A revolver is on the opposite side of the table. He pours a glass of whiskey and, with a despairing look, starts to drink it. He changes his mind, grabs the revolver, and places it against his temple, but then changes his mind again and lays the revolver carefully on the table. He drinks the whiskey with a contented smile and thumbs his nose at the audience.
A short melodrama based on Hans Christian Andersen's harrowing tale. A poor little girl tries to sell matchsticks in the freezing December cold. She lights matches for some light and warmth. There are visions: a fireplace, dinner, a Christmas tree. She sees her dead mother, welcoming her.
This picture describes the well-known biblical story of Samson and Delila. The picture commences with Samson's visit to Gaza, a city of the Philistines. While there they closed the gates upon him and set watchmen to defend them, intending to put him to death on the following day. Samson slept until midnight, and then arose. Upon reaching the gates, he slew the watchman, pulled down the gates and carried them to the top of an adjoining hill, where he left them to the confusion and disappointment of the Philistines. After many feats of this kind, Samson permitted himself to become infatuated with a treacherous woman among the Philistines, named Delila. He revealed to her that the secret of his strength lay in the fact that, being a Nazarite, he never had cut his hair. After hearing this, she waited until Samson was asleep, and then having cut off his seven locks, called out that the Philistines were coming.
Georges Méliès adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, the first film adaptation of the story. Filmed in black & white, Méliès would then paint the film by hand to colour it. Originally a 15 minute film, twelve and a half minutes of painted film have been found and have been restored.
Aristocracy, army, elephants and more mark the start of the 1903 Durbar.
A busy street scene on Lower Broadway,
It is winter and a couple invites an old woman to eat. The old woman then becomes a fairy and makes the spring appears.
