The Wonderful Living Fan

I watched this as one of the shorts on The magic of Melies video cassette released by Kino on Video, 1994. Image quality was good. Music matched the mood of the film. No color was added. Cropping did not appear to interfere with the film. Frame speed appeared to be adjusted. This should give an idea of the technical quality of the release I watched.

Watching this short was like watching an elaborate mechanical toy. I particularily liked the part where the fan box opens. It was smooth and mechanical.

I recommend this to those interested in late victorian culture. It dates to this time period, and helps to give an idea of the spirit of the times. It also includes early examples of dissolves, as the ladies costumes change, and the fan comes to life.

About all that happens in this three minute effort is that two men from the past are talking. One describes a fan to the other. He is not impressed at first. Then out comes a huge box that contains a gigantic Chinese fan. It spreads out and after a few moments it transforms into a fan made of women, like spokes in a wheel. Unfortunately, they don't do anything and it ends.

Though hardly one of the best or most interesting Méliès features, this short feature has, as most of his movies do, some visual effects that demonstrate creativity and technical skill. The material itself is only mildly interesting at best, so the main reason for watching it would be to look at a small sample of the kinds of camera tricks used by the great cinema pioneer.

The story simply shows a conjurer, who is demonstrating a magical folding fan to an appreciative audience. The visual tricks are a little uneven, but the best of them are done nicely. When Méliès's ideas work, they are more convincing and interesting than the kind of computer-generated imagery that is so overused at the present. It's not really all that hard to tell when an image has been generated with real objects, and when it was done by a computer trick.

This feature would not be among the Méliès films most worth seeking out, and it would only be worth seeing for those who already take a real interest in the pioneers of cinema. But for those who are interested, it can be rather entertaining just to rummage through even the less impressive of Méliès's shorts.

Perhaps efforts like this were a precursor of Melies eventual fate as a filmmaker. The French magician had already made the stupendous Le Voyage dans la lune the previous year, and this stage-bound effort is a definite step backward in terms of both inventiveness and technique. There's no real story to speak of, just a magic trick in which a giant fan is transformed into a group of females for the delight of the King of France. The stop-motion trickery is fairly obvious, but still manages to retain a certain charm missing from today's CGI effects. The print of this film was astonishingly clean and pristine. Probably one for Melies completists only.

Wonderful Living Fan, The (1904)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka Le Merveilleux éventail vivant

Melies plays a conjurer putting on a show for a royal crowd. The big trick of the show involves a large box that, when unfolded, becomes a fan made up of seven women. The trick movie has some impressive scenes like Melies making the women change clothing but overall I found it rather dull and slow even at just over three minutes. This year would turn out to be a very big one for the director but you really wouldn't know it by watching this film.