CINEFILER

Georges Méliès

Born
December 9, 1861
Died
January 21, 1938
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
A Trip to the Moon
(1902)
Director
The Impossible Voyage
(1904)
Director
Full Filmography
Directing
A Nightmare
(1896)
Director
A Terrible Night
(1896)
Director
Playing Cards
(1896)
Director
The Vanishing Lady
(1896)
Director
Post No Bills
(1896)
Director
The Haunted Castle
(1896)
Director
Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station
(1896)
Director
A Serpentine Dance
(1896)
Director
Arrival of a Train (Joinville Station)
(1896)
Director
Watering the Flowers
(1896)
Director
Conjuring
(1896)
Director
Les tribulations d'un concierge
(1896)
Director
Miss de Vère - English Jig
(1896)
Director
Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds
(1896)
Director
A Soldier's Unlucky Salutation
(1896)
Director
Between Calais and Dover
(1897)
Director
The Haunted Castle
(1897)
Director
The Surrender of Tournavos
(1897)
Director
The Bewitched Inn
(1897)
Director
After the Ball
(1897)
Director
The Last Cartridges
(1897)
Director
Naval Combat in Greece
(1897)
Director
On the Roof
(1897)
Director
The Hallucinated Alchemist
(1897)
Director
The Devil's Laboratory
(1897)
Director
Faust and Marguerite
(1897)
Director
An Irritable Model
(1897)
Director
Boxing Match
(1897)
Director
Fencing at the Joinville School
(1897)
Director
The Grasshopper and the Ant
(1897)
Director
A Terrible Night (Remake)
(1897)
Director
D. Devant, Conjurer
(1897)
Director
Pygmalion and Galatea
(1898)
Director
The Four Troublesome Heads
(1898)
Director
The Magician
(1898)
Director
Panorama from Top of a Moving Train
(1898)
Director
Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"
(1898)
Director
The Famous Box Trick
(1898)
Director
The Astronomer's Dream
(1898)
Director
The Temptation of St. Anthony
(1898)
Director
Adventures of William Tell
(1898)
Director
The Damnation of Faust
(1898)
Director
A Woman Surprised
(1898)
Director
The Bridegroom's Dilemma
(1898)
Director
The Cave of the Demons
(1898)
Director
Carrefour de l'opéra
(1898)
Director
Guerre de Cuba et l'explosion du Maine à La Havane
(1898)
Director
The Conjurer
(1899)
Director
The Pillar of Fire
(1899)
Director
The Devil in a Convent
(1899)
Director
Suicide of Colonel Henry
(1899)
Director
The Mysterious Portrait
(1899)
Director
Dreyfus Court Martial - Arrest Of Dreyfus
(1899)
Director
The Court Martial at Rennes
(1899)
Director
The Fight of Reporters
(1899)
Director
Dreyfus Put in Irons
(1899)
Director
Dreyfus Meets His Wife at Rennes
(1899)
Director
Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon
(1899)
Director
The Attempt Against the Life of Maitre Labori
(1899)
Director
The Mysterious Knight
(1899)
Director
Cinderella
(1899)
Director
The Dreyfus Affair
(1899)
Director
The Human Pyramid
(1899)
Director
Summoning the Spirits
(1899)
Director
Cleopatra's Tomb
(1899)
Director
Fantastic Dining Room
(1899)
Director
Lightning Change Artist
(1899)
Director
Extravagant Struggles
(1899)
Director
Devil's Island - Within the Palisade
(1899)
Director
Christ Walking on Water
(1899)
Director
Murder Will Out
(1899)
Director
The Clown and Automobile
(1899)
Director
Le conférencier distrait
(1899)
Director
The Degradation of Dreyfus
(1899)
Director
Dreyfus Leaving the Lycée for Jail
(1899)
Director
A Midnight Episode
(1899)
Director
The One-Man Band
(1900)
Director
Addition and Subtraction
(1900)
Director
Joan of Arc
(1900)
Director
The Magic Book
(1900)
Director
The Cook's Revenge
(1900)
Director
The Rajah's Dream or The Bewitched Wood
(1900)
Director
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
(1900)
Director
The Christmas Dream
(1900)
Director
Eight Girls in a Barrel
(1900)
Director
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
(1900)
Director
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
(1900)
Director
A Fantastical Meal
(1900)
Director
How He Missed His Train
(1900)
Director
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
(1900)
Director
The Doctor and the Monkey
(1900)
Director
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
(1900)
Director
The Two Blind Men
(1900)
Director
The Misfortunes of an Explorer
(1900)
Director
The Artist and the Dummy
(1900)
Director
Les miracles du Brahmine
(1900)
Director
Crying and Laughing
(1900)
Director
The Man with the Rubber Head
(1901)
Director
Bluebeard
(1901)
Director
What Is Home Without the Boarder
(1901)
Director
The Bachelor's Paradise
(1901)
Director
An Extraordinary Dislocation
(1901)
Director
The Dwarf and the Giant
(1901)
Director
The Devil and the Statue
(1901)
Director
The Prince of Magicians
(1901)
Director
Hat of Many Surprises
(1901)
Director
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
(1901)
Director
The Magician's Cavern
(1901)
Director
Off to Bedlam
(1901)
Director
L'homme aux cent trucs
(1901)
Director
The Triple Headed Lady
(1901)
Director
Little Red Riding Hood
(1901)
Director
A Trip to the Moon
(1902)
Director
The Treasures of Satan
(1902)
Director
The Coronation of Edward VII
(1902)
Director
The Magician and the Imp
(1902)
Director
The Microscopic Dancer
(1902)
Director
The Colonel's Shower Bath
(1902)
Director
An Impossible Balancing Feat
(1902)
Director
The Human Fly
(1902)
Director
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
(1902)
Director
Robinson Crusoe
(1902)
Director
The Terrible Eruption of Mount Pelee and Destruction of St. Pierre, Martinique
(1902)
Director
The Prolific Magical Egg
(1902)
Director
Une indigestion
(1902)
Director
The Catastrophe of the Balloon "Le Pax"
(1902)
Director
The Flying Woman
(1902)
Director
The Kingdom of the Fairies
(1903)
Director
The Monster
(1903)
Director
The Infernal Cauldron
(1903)
Director
The Melomaniac
(1903)
Director
The Infernal Cakewalk
(1903)
Director
The Oracle of Delphi
(1903)
Director
The Marvellous Wreath
(1903)
Director
The Enchanted Well
(1903)
Director
Extraordinary Illusions
(1903)
Director
Apparitions
(1903)
Director
The Inn Where No Man Rests
(1903)
Director
The Magic Lantern
(1903)
Director
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
(1903)
Director
Ten Ladies in an Umbrella
(1903)
Director
Jupiter's Thunderballs
(1903)
Director
Faust in the Underworld
(1903)
Director
The Mystical Flame
(1903)
Director
The Mysterious Box
(1903)
Director
The Drawing Lesson
(1903)
Director
The Ballet Master's Dream
(1903)
Director
The Witch's Revenge
(1903)
Director
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
(1903)
Director
Jack Jags and Dum Dum
(1903)
Director
Comical Conjuring
(1903)
Director
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
(1903)
Director
A Spiritualist Photographer
(1903)
Director
Cabinet Trick of the Davenport Brothers
(1903)
Director
Les mousquetaires de la reine
(1903)
Director
The Impossible Voyage
(1904)
Director
The Mermaid
(1904)
Director
The Cook in Trouble
(1904)
Director
The Untamable Whiskers
(1904)
Director
The Imperceptible Transmutations
(1904)
Director
The Wandering Jew
(1904)
Director
A Moonlight Serenade
(1904)
Director
The Firefall
(1904)
Director
The Bewitched Trunk
(1904)
Director
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
(1904)
Director
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
(1904)
Director
The Clockmaker's Dream
(1904)
Director
The Fugitive Apparitions
(1904)
Director
Tit for Tat
(1904)
Director
The Christmas Angel
(1904)
Director
The Devilish Plank
(1904)
Director
A Miracle Under the Inquisition
(1904)
Director
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
(1904)
Director
Faust and Marguerite
(1904)
Director
The Wonderful Living Fan
(1904)
Director
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
(1904)
Director
The Wonderful Rose Tree
(1904)
Director
Benvenuto Cellini or A Curious Evasion
(1904)
Director
The Misadventures of Mr. Boit-Sans-Soif
(1904)
Director
The Scheming Gambler's Paradise
(1905)
Director
The Living Playing Cards
(1905)
Director
The Black Imp
(1905)
Director
The Enchanted Sedan Chair
(1905)
Director
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
(1905)
Director
An Adventurous Automobile Trip
(1905)
Director
An Improvised Fireworks Display
(1905)
Director
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
(1905)
Director
Rip's Dream
(1905)
Director
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
(1905)
Director
A Crazy Composer
(1905)
Director
The Lilliputian Minuet
(1905)
Director
The Magic Dice
(1905)
Director
A Mesmerian Experiment
(1905)
Director
STOP THIEF!
(1905)
Director
The Mysterious Retort
(1906)
Director
The Hilarious Posters
(1906)
Director
The Merry Frolics of Satan
(1906)
Director
Soap Bubbles
(1906)
Director
Jack the Chimney Sweep
(1906)
Director
The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
(1906)
Director
A Mix-Up in the Gallery
(1906)
Director
A Roadside Inn
(1906)
Director
The Witch
(1906)
Director
Punch and Judy
(1906)
Director
Robert Macaire and Bertrand
(1906)
Director
A Desperate Crime
(1906)
Director
The Luny Musician
(1906)
Director
Good Glue Sticks
(1907)
Director
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
(1907)
Director
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(1907)
Director
Tunneling the English Channel
(1907)
Director
The Skipping Cheese
(1907)
Director
How Bridget's Lover Escaped
(1907)
Director
Sightseeing Through Whisky
(1907)
Director
Rogues' Tricks
(1907)
Director
Ali Barbouyou and Ali Bouf, In Oil
(1907)
Director
The Prophetess of Thebes
(1907)
Director
Satan in Prison
(1907)
Director
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
(1907)
Director
The Indian Sorcerer
(1908)
Director
Long Distance Wireless Photography
(1908)
Director
The Knight of Black Art
(1908)
Director
A Tricky Painter’s Fate
(1908)
Director
Buncoed Stage Johnnie
(1908)
Director
The Good Shepherdess and the Evil Princess
(1908)
Director
The King and the Jester
(1908)
Director
Not Guilty
(1908)
Director
The Miser
(1908)
Director
The Broken Violin
(1908)
Director
The New Lord of the Village
(1908)
Director
In the Barber Shop
(1908)
Director
Pharmaceutical Hallucinations
(1908)
Director
Justinian's Human Torches
(1908)
Director
The Woes of Roller Skaters
(1908)
Director
Why That Actor Was Late
(1908)
Director
In the Bogie Man's Cave
(1908)
Director
Sideshow Wrestlers
(1908)
Director
French Cops Learning English
(1908)
Director
Grandmother's Tale and Child's Dream
(1908)
Director
The Genii of Fire
(1908)
Director
The Mischance of a Photographer
(1908)
Director
His First Job
(1908)
Director
The Dream of an Opium Fiend
(1908)
Director
The Good Luck of a 'Souse'
(1908)
Director
Mishaps of the New York-Paris Auto Race
(1908)
Director
Humanity Through the Ages
(1908)
Director
L'agent gelé
(1908)
Director
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
(1908)
Director
The Diabolic Tenant
(1909)
Director
The Spider and the Butterfly
(1909)
Director
Whimsical Illusions
(1909)
Director
The Doctor's Secret
(1909)
Director
The Diabolical Church Window
(1910)
Director
The Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen
(1911)
Director
The Conquest of the Pole
(1912)
Director
The Knight of the Snow
(1912)
Director
Cinderella or The Glass Slipper
(1912)
Director
The Voyage of M. Bourrichon
(1913)
Director
Gala Méliès
(1929)
Director
Melies: Tales of Terror
(2021)
Director
Acting
A Terrible Night
(1896)
L'homme qui essaie de dormir
The Vanishing Lady
(1896)
Magician
The Haunted Castle
(1896)
Mephistopheles
Playing Cards
(1896)
Un joueur de cartes
A Nightmare
(1896)
Man
Conjuring
(1896)
Himself
The Haunted Castle
(1897)
The Bewitched Inn
(1897)
The Traveler
Naval Combat in Greece
(1897)
The Captain
Between Calais and Dover
(1897)
The Man in the Checked Suit
Faust and Marguerite
(1897)
Méphistophélès
The Four Troublesome Heads
(1898)
Conjurer
The Astronomer's Dream
(1898)
Astronomer
The Temptation of St. Anthony
(1898)
Pygmalion and Galatea
(1898)
Pygmalion
The Famous Box Trick
(1898)
The Magician
The Magician
(1898)
Le Sculpteur
Cinderella
(1899)
The Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church
The Devil in a Convent
(1899)
The Devil
The Conjurer
(1899)
Magician
The Dreyfus Affair
(1899)
Fernand Labori
Summoning the Spirits
(1899)
The Human Pyramid
(1899)
The Mysterious Knight
(1899)
Le chevalier mystère
The Mysterious Portrait
(1899)
L'illusioniste
Cleopatra's Tomb
(1899)
un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre
The Pillar of Fire
(1899)
A Midnight Episode
(1899)
The Sleeping Man (uncredited)
The One-Man Band
(1900)
All the members of the orchestra
Joan of Arc
(1900)
Père de Jeanne
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
(1900)
Wrestler
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
(1900)
The Man
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
(1900)
Le comique excentrique
The Artist and the Dummy
(1900)
Artiste
The Christmas Dream
(1900)
Beggar
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
(1900)
Prince
A Fantastical Meal
(1900)
The Man
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
(1900)
Conjurer
The Magic Book
(1900)
The Magician
Bluebeard
(1901)
Barbe-bleue
The Man with the Rubber Head
(1901)
The Chemist / The India Rubber Head
Hat of Many Surprises
(1901)
The Magician's Cavern
(1901)
The Dwarf and the Giant
(1901)
The Devil and the Statue
(1901)
The Prince of Magicians
(1901)
Excelsior
The Triple Headed Lady
(1901)
A Trip to the Moon
(1902)
Professor Barbenfouillis / The Moon
The Prolific Magical Egg
(1902)
The Treasures of Satan
(1902)
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
(1902)
Gulliver
The Human Fly
(1902)
The Hindoo Magician
Robinson Crusoe
(1902)
Robinson Crusoé
An Impossible Balancing Feat
(1902)
The Infernal Cauldron
(1903)
Devil
The Ballet Master's Dream
(1903)
The Monster
(1903)
The Infernal Cakewalk
(1903)
Devil
The Melomaniac
(1903)
Extraordinary Illusions
(1903)
Jupiter's Thunderballs
(1903)
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
(1903)
The Mystical Flame
(1903)
Apparitions
(1903)
The Oracle of Delphi
(1903)
Faust in the Underworld
(1903)
Mephistopholes
The Kingdom of the Fairies
(1903)
Prince Bel-Azor
The Magic Lantern
(1903)
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
(1903)
The Mysterious Box
(1903)
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
(1903)
Lamplighter
The Marvellous Wreath
(1903)
Musketeer
The Impossible Voyage
(1904)
Mabouloff
The Untamable Whiskers
(1904)
Man with whiskers
The Clockmaker's Dream
(1904)
The Wandering Jew
(1904)
The Wonderful Living Fan
(1904)
The Mermaid
(1904)
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
(1904)
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
(1904)
A Moonlight Serenade
(1904)
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
(1904)
The Fugitive Apparitions
(1904)
The Devilish Plank
(1904)
Tit for Tat
(1904)
The Christmas Angel
(1904)
The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
(1904)
The Magician / The Double
The Firefall
(1904)
Satan
The Cook in Trouble
(1904)
The Living Playing Cards
(1905)
The Magician
The Black Imp
(1905)
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
(1905)
A Mesmerian Experiment
(1905)
Rip's Dream
(1905)
Rip Van Winkle
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
(1905)
The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)
The Merry Frolics of Satan
(1906)
Satan
The Hilarious Posters
(1906)
The Bill Poster
The Mysterious Retort
(1906)
The Witch
(1906)
The Fairy Carabosse
A Desperate Crime
(1906)
Satan in Prison
(1907)
Satan
Good Glue Sticks
(1907)
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
(1907)
Professor of Astronomy
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(1907)
Tunneling the English Channel
(1907)
Ali Barbouyou and Ali Bouf, In Oil
(1907)
Ali Barbouyou
The Indian Sorcerer
(1908)
The Fakir
Long Distance Wireless Photography
(1908)
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
(1908)
The Roman
The Diabolic Tenant
(1909)
Le locataire diabolique
Whimsical Illusions
(1909)
The Magician
The Doctor's Secret
(1909)
The Diabolical Church Window
(1910)
The Conquest of the Pole
(1912)
Le professeur Mabouloff
The Knight of the Snow
(1912)
Devil
Gala Méliès
(1929)
Himself
Violons d'Ingres
(1939)
Himself (archive footage)
Cinematógrafo 1900
(1979)
Self (archive footage)
Méliès' Magic Show
(1997)
Divers
The Extraordinary Voyage
(2011)
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
(2012)
Self (archive footage)
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
(2014)
Self (archive footage)
The Méliès Mystery
(2021)
Lui-même (archives)
Melies: Tales of Terror
(2021)
The Melomaniac
Art
Production
Writing
Editing
Crew
Camera
Data provided by TMDB