La lune à un mètre

Fantastic short film from pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès. A great companion piece to his later classic, A Trip to the Moon (1902). That name was also given to this one when released in the US. The original (and more fitting) name is The Astronomer's Dream. The story to this is an astronomer who looks like Merlin is visited by a woman and a demon and has dreams about the moon. The special effects and sets are really cool, especially when you consider this film's age. Méliès was ahead of his time in many ways. Definitely worth a look for anyone into film history or silent shorts or anyone with a few minutes to spare. I can't imagine anyone seeing this and regretting it. Well, a-holes maybe.

George Méliès makes my mind melt and my jaw drop again! This short film is actually better than the last! It has the extremely cool illusions of people appearing and disappearing out of thin air (still do not know how that was accomplished), but this one steps it up a notch. There's this really creepy moon that eats the furniture that moves on its own and it looks awesome. The guy who is playing the astronomer did a great job. His performance made me laugh. The biggest improvement though is the addition of music. Just simply adding music helps, but it's even better when the music fits perfectly and adds another level of enjoyment to something, which is the case here. This makes me way more eager to check out more of George Méliès work, and I think I can safely say I won't be disappointed.

Astronomer's Dream, The (1898)

*** (out of 4)

aka La Lune a un metre

An astronomer is in his office working when the devil and a woman appear to him and this sets off a strange dream, which includes the moon attacking him. This is another enjoyable film from Meiles as we get to see various magic tricks including the familiar gags of the astronomer going to sit down only to have the chair disappear. What really stands out in this film is the attack by the moon, which is perfectly done and leads to several laughs. I love Melies' design of the moon making it something to fear with its evil eyes and mouth. The special effects are quite nice throughout. This is certainly a good place for newbies to start.

Maybe the first example of science fiction and fantasy in a narrative form from the pioneer of early cinema Georges Melies as he plays an astronomer studying in an observatory when a devil figure appears then a woman who sends the devil away.

The astronomer draws a globe on a blackboard which starts to move, when he looks through the telescope the moon appears with a large face like the face later used in Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons and it eats the astronomer's telescope.

Then small men come through the mouth of the moon and then it goes back in the sky and then the moon becomes a crescent when another figure in the shape of a lady appears.

This is just part of the content in a short film just over three minutes long that has set design, characters in costumes, special effects and use of editing as well as surreal imagery. The editing is jumpy but again it is Melies that was showing the early promise of cinematic illusion.

I can't believe that no one else has commented on this yet. This amazing film was one of the first "story" films, with sets like a play. It is a wonderment and leaves so much inspiration for the imagination. It is not in popular circulation, but perhaps it should be. If you can get a chance to watch this one do at all costs. If you can't find it then just think of the Tonight Tonight video by the Smashing Pumpkins. It's about the same except they are separated by about one-hundred years and by a whole barrage of special effects. All in all they are both wonderful and interesting to look at.