Georges Méliès
Biography
Georges Méliès (December 9, 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.
Known For
Acting
1902
asProfessor Barbenfouillis / The Moon
1904
asMabouloff
1904
as
1979
asSelf (archive footage)
2014
asSelf (archive footage)
1904
asMan with whiskers
1905
asThe Magician
1903
asDevil
1900
asAll the members of the orchestra
1898
asConjurer
1899
asThe Sleeping Man (uncredited)
1900
asPère de Jeanne
1897
asMéphistophélès
1896
asL'homme qui essaie de dormir
1897
asMephisto
1896
asMagician
1898
asAstronomer
1908
asThe Fakir
1899
asThe Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church
1912
asLe professeur Mabouloff
1904
as
1896
asMephistopheles
2012
asSelf (archive footage)
1906
as
1907
asAli Barbouyou
1904
as
1905
as
1903
as
1905
as
1898
as
1909
asLe locataire diabolique
1901
asThe Chemist / The India Rubber Head
1899
asThe Devil
1904
as
1908
as
1899
asMagician
1906
asSatan
1900
asWrestler
1906
asThe Bill Poster
1899
asFernand Labori
1903
asDevil
1904
as
1903
as
1899
as
1903
as
1904
as1899
as
1901
as
1900
asThe Man
1900
asLe comique excentrique
1903
as
1903
asThe Executioner
1897
asThe Traveler
1909
asThe Magician
1903
as
1903
as
1903
as
1902
as
1911
as
1907
asSatan
2021
asThe Melomaniac
1909
as
1903
as
1901
as
1903
as
1901
as
1905
as
1906
as
1896
asUn joueur de cartes
1902
as
1904
as
1901
asBarbe-bleue
1906
asThe Fairy Carabosse
1903
asMephistopholes
1902
as
1901
as
1899
asLe chevalier mystère
1900
asArtiste
1900
asBeggar
1907
as
1903
as
1904
as
1929
asHimself
1903
asPrince Bel-Azor
1907
asProfessor of Astronomy
1901
asThe brahmin
1901
asThe Wizard
1901
as
1906
asDrunk Traveler
1912
asDevil
1903
as
1907
as
1898
asPygmalion
1907
as
1896
asMan
1903
as
1897
asThe Captain
1939
asHimself (archive footage)
2011
asSelf - Filmmaker (archive footage)
1899
asL'illusioniste
1904
as
1904
as
1896
asHimself
1904
asThe Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
1902
asGulliver
1902
asThe Hindoo Magician
1901
asExcelsior
1904
asThe Magician / The Double
1899
asun profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
1905
asRip Van Winkle
1902
asRobinson Crusoé
1905
asThe Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
1903
as
1900
asPrince
1908
asThe Roman
1901
as
1899
as
2021
asSelf (archive footage)
1903
asLamplighter
1897
asThe Man in the Checked Suit
1900
asThe Man
1900
asConjurer
1900
asThe Magician
1903
asMusketeer
1898
asLe Sculpteur
1898
asThe Magician
1904
asSatan
1908
asGnome
2019
asMagician (archive footage from "The Vanishing Lady")
1902
asDoctor
2024
as
1905
as1903
as1903
as
1905
asUlysses (uncredited)
1908
asPasserby
1908
asThe Police Inspector
1908
asThe Old Farmer
1907
asTribolet
1997
asSelf / Various Roles (archive footage)
1907
asLe commissaire de police
1908
asLe fantôme de César
1908
as1897
as1897
asThe Funny Mahometan
2023
asArchivo de imagen
asSelf (archive footage)
Production
1902
as1899
as1900
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as1905
as1900
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as1905
as1909
as1909
as1899
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as1896
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as1904
as1897
as1912
as1904
as1899
as2021
as1898
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as1896
as1907
as1905
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1898
as1906
as1896
as1905
as1902
as1903
as1906
as1901
as1906
as1898
as1898
as1897
as1900
asCrew
1898
as1901
as
1979
as1898
as1900
asDirecting
1902
as1904
as1900
as
1899
as
1899
as1903
as1908
as1905
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as1904
as1904
as
1905
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1905
as1903
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as1898
as1901
as1899
as1906
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as1907
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as1907
as1906
as1903
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as1896
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1897
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1898
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1897
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1898
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1899
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1899
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1900
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1900
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1900
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1902
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1902
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1902
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1900
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1900
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1904
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1901
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1903
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as
1896
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1903
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1909
as1896
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as
1911
as1906
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as
1900
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as1897
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as
1897
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1901
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1913
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1902
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1903
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1904
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1907
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1905
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1906
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1906
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1907
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1908
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1908
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1908
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1908
as1912
as
1912
as1911
as1904
as1909
as
1898
as1898
as
1897
as1899
as
1899
as1908
as
1896
as1898
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as
1903
as1900
as1902
as1901
as
1897
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1908
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as1907
as1897
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as2021
as
1899
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1901
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1904
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1899
as1929
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1899
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1897
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1896
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1898
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1896
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1897
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1898
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1896
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1896
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1896
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1897
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1896
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1900
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1900
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1900
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1900
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1900
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asas as as 1908
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