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An Up-to-Date Conjuror
''L'Illusionniste fin de siècle'' is an 1899 French silent trick film directed by Georges Méliès. It was released in the United States as ''An Up-to-Date Conjurer'', and in Britain as ''An Up-to-Date Conjuror.'' It is also known as ''L'Impressionniste fin de siècle'' and ''The Conjurer''. Plot A conjuror and a ballet dancer perform a quick series of magic acts, including disappearances, reappearances, and transformations. Production Méliès plays the conjuror. The special effects in the film were created using sophisticated substitution splices, with the shots carefully cut and matched together to allow the mid-motion transformations to seem smooth. Méliès made two versions of ''An Up-to-Date Conjuror'', with a different dancer and different scenery, as well as slight variations in the action. It is possible that other Méliès films could have likewise been filmed more than once. The scenery in the more commonly available version of the film was reused for Méliès's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Méliès
Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour. He was also one of the first filmmakers to use storyboards. His films include '' A Trip to the Moon'' (1902) and ''The Impossible Voyage'' (1904), both involving strange, surreal journeys somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. The 2011 film ''Hugo'' was inspired by the life and work of Méliès. Early life and education Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was born 8 December 1861 in Paris, son of Jean-Louis Méliès and his Dutch wife, Johannah-Catherine Schuering. His father h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
