Le diable noir

Director Georges Méliès was the greatest film maker of his day. Unlike the films of Lumiere and Edison, his films told complex stories and had a lot of very, very funny and amazing stunts--probably due to his earlier career as a magician.

In this short film, a devil is shown bounding about an apartment--appearing and disappearing at will. Soon, a man enters and is soon tortured by the imp. First, furniture appears and disappears--chasing the man around his apartment. Then, when the devil appears, the man chases him and tries to hit him, but he keeps appearing and disappearing and it soon becomes obvious there is nothing he can do to stop him! This film is one stop-motion camera trick after another and is super high-paced and funny. Despite its age, it's well worth seeing.

If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.