The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon

A Trip to the Moon

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.

The Man with the Rubber Head

A chemist carries out a bizarre experiment with his own head.

The Melomaniac

The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.

Tunneling the English Channel

The plot follows King Edward VII and President Armand Fallières dreaming of building a tunnel under the English Channel.

Whimsical Illusions

In this hand-colored short, a magician and his assistant do a series of magic tricks, including making potted plants appear, among others. Melies played the magician, and the actor Manuel played his assistant.

The Bewitched Inn

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

The Vanishing Lady

Georges Méliès makes a woman disappear, then reappear.

Cinderella

A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.

The Magician

In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.

An Extraordinary Dislocation

A clown performs various feats of magic based on his ability to detach and reattach different parts of his body.

A Nightmare

A man has a fantastical nightmare involving, among other things, a grinning malevolent moon.

Addition and Subtraction

A magician performs tricks involving three women, who are sometimes merged together into one corpulent female.

Rip's Dream

The Melies version of the old Rip Van Winkle tale.

The Ballet Master's Dream

It's late in the evening, and the ballet master's bed has been prepared for him. But he cannot take his mind off of his work, and instead of going to sleep he paces the floor and tries out dance steps. Finally, he goes to bed and falls asleep, but ballet dominates even his dreams. He sees two dancers who seem to come right into his room as they perform, and that's just the beginning.

Robinson Crusoe

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.

Le château hanté

A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.

Children of a Lesser God

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.