Melies goes all-out with the special effects

Tuesday 24th May, 2022 - Bruce Sterling

*This work of early cinema lacks a plot or characters, but it’s almost a catalog of his many and various on-camera stage tricks. By 1911 he was in the decline of his career and seemed to be heaping stunts up almost at random here.

*Melies almost personified the turbulent ups and downs of cinema show-biz. How fickle the public is; they kept forgetting him, leaving him in the gutter, and then showering honors on him.