The Enchanted Sedan Chair

This short silent film is part of the DVD collection entitled "The Magic of Méliès" and is the fourth volume of THE MOVIES BEGIN series from Kino Video. Unlike copies of Méliès' films that are posted on the internet, the prints for these short films are exceptionally crisp and clean and feature wonderful musical scores. Oddly, though, is that aside from a few films such as THE BLACK IMP and THE IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE, most of the shorts chosen for this DVD are actually not among the best of Méliès' films--having a strong tendency to show is "stagy" material as opposed to the films that have elaborate sets and plots.

This silent short, like too many on the DVD, is just a stage magician's act that has been given a few less than inspiring camera tricks. In fact, of all these types of films I have seen from Méliès, this is the dullest and least inspired. It's too bad, as people watching this DVD might think Méliès was a "hack", but he made many fantastic films that never even got included (why, I have no idea).

"The Enchanted Sedan Chair" is a fairly typical magic act trick film from the career of Georges Méliès, both in tricks and structure. Like many other shorts of Méliès's which rely entirely on special effects, this three-minute film is all too typical in that it uses the premise of a stage magic show to utilize its effects, which are done not through the work of the magician himself but through camera tricks. Nonetheless, because Méliès was a stage magician before becoming a filmmaker, he does know how to pull off the illusions well in his role as the magician, creating mostly seamless dissolves and cuts that make the act come off with ease.

The premise of the magic show this time involves a sedan chair, brought in after the magician first creates a man from a set of clothes, and a woman from a mannequin. What follows is a lot of predictable magic, with the footmen, woman, man, etc. (who are dressed as if they came from the 17th century or so, for no apparent reason) switching places magically. There is one particular cut in this part which is quite obvious, but for the most part, the tricks, particularly the dissolves, are executed quite well. Apart from this, it isn't a particularly special film of the director's catalogue, but at least remains watchable at three minutes even if virtually the same as so many others.

What we're really seeing in The Enchanted Sedan Chair is classic stage magic enhanced by early camera tricks-primarily substitution splicing. This technique involves stopping the camera, changing something in the scene, and then restarting it. It allowed for magical effects that would have been very difficult-though not entirely impossible-to pull off live on stage.

From a magician's perspective, it must have felt a bit like how we use AI today: you give a simple input and get an impressive result. But at the same time, you know the real effort came from the technology, not you.

More than a century later, we've seen incredible magic performances achieved without relying on camera tricks. So as a viewer, I felt a bit let down by how little effort the director-who was also a seasoned stage magician-put into the illusions in this film.

That said, there is something to appreciate: the transitions are impressively smooth. It's clear that careful planning went into positioning everything and everyone before each camera stop and start, and the editing was likely done with precision to maintain that seamless flow.

Enchanted Sedan Chair, The (1905)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka La Chaise à porteurs enchantée

Typical trick film from the French master has him once again playing a magician who performs a special trick. We see a clear glass case with nothing it in but soon a woman appears and this is just the start of the film. This trick film isn't really anything special especially when you compare it to the other works that Melies did around this time as well as similar themed films from his past. The trick shot of the woman appearing was pretty good but everything that followed with the cab was pretty bland. I'm sure Melies die-hards will want to check this one out but there are much, much better films out there from him.

This is a typical example of the filmed stage shows Melies made in abundance. The short film is lively and energetic and the breathless enthusiasm of Melies for his art is evident in every shot, but by 1905, with an increasing number of films telling stories, these kind of filmed magic shows were already beginning to look a little tired and passe. In this one Melies produces clothes and a woman from a glass box. He then dresses a mannequin in more clothes produced from the glass box and transforms it into a living woman. Then, after a couple of men carry a hansom cab onto the stage Melies places one woman in the cab and places a sheet over the other before magically making them swap places. It's all seamlessly done, but it's not magic it's trick photography - which pretty much makes the act redundant when you think about it.