Excelsior

French filmmaking magician Georges Melies appears on stage and produces a glass bowl under a handkerchief. He pumps the arm of his older male assistant to fill the bowl with water. Naturally, a fish will appear in the water. And, that's not all. A dizzying parade of increasingly outrageous materializations occur. Melies uses the trick photography he made so famous - but, there is more here than meets the eye. Melies doesn't just show the trick. His films display comic performance in addition to the technical skills. For example, Melies amusingly has to move the bowl when the first water (intentionally) misses the mark.

****** Excelsior! (1901) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies

Some of the tried and true works here. Melies plays both the magician and his partner. The best scene is where he places a large goblet on a table and pumps the man's arm, causing water to shoot from his mouth, into the goblet. He then does a tired trick with a big sheet which when removed reveals a lobster. He does it again and it turns into a woman. There are a few other things. It's basically a magic show.

This film was included in the three DVD set "Saved From the Flames"--a collection of mostly ephemeral movies that have managed to avoid turning to powder, catching fire or melting--something that usually happened with the nitrate film stock used up through the 1950s.

This is a film that was made by Georges Georges Méliès and he stars as the magician--though it might be hard to recognize him in a wig. Like so many of his films, this one is basically a magic routine that was filmed using LOTS of stop-motion. In other words, to make things disappear, the camera was stopped and people or objects were removed--while those remaining in the shots were to stay as still as possible. In it's day, this was hot stuff though today's audiences will be less thrilled by the trick camera work. Excellent for its day, though, as seeing ladies disappear and water come shooting out of the assistant's mouth were pretty slickly done. And, compared to the film maker's other work, this one is about average.

Prince Of Magicians, The (1901)

*** (out of 4)

aka Excelsior !

A magician (played by Melies) brings an assistant into his room where various tricks are pulled. This seems like a greatest hits package from the director who doesn't do anything too great here but all of the magic on display is quite good and makes for an entertaining film. One gag has Melies turn the man into a water fountain by spitting water out of his mouth into a bowl and then the director follows that up by pulling a fish out of the mouth. There's also a nice sequence where he turns a woman into two little girls. The final trick in the movie is also quite good and these are enough reasons to make this film worth viewing.