L'homme à la tête en caoutchouc

Melies had a sense of playfulness about his films, and this is one of the more amusing ones: Melies takes a head -- which is Melies' head -- attaches it to some bellows, and blows it up like a balloon. True, there's no deep thought involved, but there needn't be. It's less than a minute and easily sustains the one joke.

Melies was inventing techniques as he went along, borrowing from other media, just as D.W. Griffith shortly would. There is an exuberance in seeing something done for the first time that is sorely lacking in later uses of the same editing effect. I suppose it's because Melies was having fun himself.

In Georges Melies film 'The Man With the Rubber Head', what is it that is suspended? Our belief or our disbelief? The modern audience is desensitised to what is witnessed, which to the films modern audience would have seemed particularly, lets say 'futuristic'. If technological advancements have affected the way in which we apprehend phenomena on-screen, does it affect the way in which we apprehend further life? Is it possible that life in a technological advanced society is less real than before? However, will the 'real' and the 'possible' be "more" as technology advances?

What this film does more than any other in the digital age is demonstrate artistic creativity. The illusion which (really) exists before us was not borne by the touch of a button, but crafted with a patience, that is rare in our postmodern dullness.

Man With The Rubber Head, The (1901)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka L'Homme à la tête en caoutchouc

This here is one of the director's best known and most loved films and that's understandable due to the wonderful magic created here. Meiles once again plays the magician who puts a head (again Meiles') on a table and blows it up to a large side, lets the air out and then blows it back up again. This is certainly one of the director's best films as it's guaranteed to keep a smile on your face the entire time. The special effects are very well done and hold up quite well today but the highlight is certainly the ending but I won't ruin that for you. If you're new to the director's work then this here would be a great place to start.

The very early French film director Méliès was super-famous for his trick cinematography. He deserved this fame for such standout films as Le Voyage Dans le Lune and I personally think he was the greatest movie maker of his age. Compared to Edison and Lumiere's films, his movies were always superior--featuring great sets, stories and camera-work. And, compared to later luminaries such as D. W. Griffith, I think Méliès' films are much more watchable today.

This film features the director's disembodied head as the star. Believe it or not, this was not very unusual for Méliès, as I have seen several films where his disembodied head performs! This is very clever and funny and it differs in this case because the head it enlarged again and again using a pump until it ultimately explodes! And, for the year it was made, it looked amazingly real! Funny stuff indeed.

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.

George Melies was a magician before he was a filmmaker, and he often discovered these film tricks while filming. George Melies stars in this film as a man who is able to inflate and then deflate a duplicate of his own talking head. He decides to let his assistant in on the fun with disastrous results. It's funny how today we have all of the technology and none of the imagination that these early film pioneers had. Melies' work can be found on youtube - it is not copyrighted - or on DVD if you prefer a hard copy with a bit of commentary. Melies has a tendency to do many of the same kinds of things repeatedly which will probably annoy many viewers. Just remember that Melies had no idea that we'd be watching his movies 100-120 years later, but I'm sure he would be delighted.