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The Palace Of The Arabian Nights
''The Palace of the Arabian Nights'' (french: Le Palais des mille et une nuits) is a 1905 silent fantasy film directed by Georges Méliès. The film, inspired by the '' One Thousand and One Nights'', follows the adventures of a prince whose bravery and devotion are tested in a magical quest to win the hand of his beloved. Plot In a mythical Arabian kingdom, the noble but penniless Prince Sourire (French for "smile") loves the beautiful Princess Indigo, and asks his father, a mighty Rajah, for her hand in marriage. The Rajah angrily sends the Prince away; he has already promised Indigo's hand to an old friend of his, the wealthy usurer Sakaram. Indigo protests vehemently as Sourire is driven away by guards. Returning to his private chamber, Sourire weeps with grief and accidentally overturns an incense burner. Smoke pours out of the burner, from which appears the sorcerer Khalafar. After hearing the prince's story, the sorcerer takes him under his protection and presents him wit ... [...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] |
Groom (profession)
A groom or stable boy (stable hand, stable lad) is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable owner, but an owner of a horse may perform the duties of a groom, particularly if the owner only possesses a few horses. Word history The word appeared in English as grome c.1225, meaning "boy child, boy, youth"; its origin is unknown. It has no known cognates in other Germanic languages (e.g. Dutch and German use compound terms, such as ''Stal(l)knecht'' 'stable servant', or equivalents of synonyms mentioned below). Perhaps it stems from an Old English root ''groma'', related to ''growan'' "grow" or from Old French ''grommet'' "servant" (compare Medieval English gromet for "ship's boy", recorded since 1229). The word was originally rather grander in status, as in bridegroom and the socially elevated offices in the English Royal House ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Exposition Of 1900
The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next. It was held at the esplanade of Les Invalides, the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro and at the banks of the Seine between them, with an additional section in the Bois de Vincennes, and it was visited by more than 50 million people. Many international congresses and other events were held within the framework of the Exposition, including the 1900 Summer Olympics. Many technological innovations were displayed at the Fair, including the ''Grande Roue de Paris'' ferris wheel, the ''Rue de l'Avenir'' moving sidewalk, the first ever regular passenger trolleybus line, escalators, diesel engines, electric cars, dry cell batteries, electric fire engines, talking films, the telegraphone (the first magnetic audio recorder), the galal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trompe L'oeil
A trompe is a water-powered air compressor, commonly used before the advent of the electric-powered compressor. A trompe is somewhat like an airlift pump working in reverse. Trompes were used to provide compressed air for bloomery furnaces in Catalonia and the USA. The presence of a trompe is a signature attribute of a Catalan forge, a type of bloomery furnace. Trompes can be enormous. At Canadian Hydro Developers' Ragged Chute facility in New Liskeard, Ontario, water falls down a shaft deep and across to generate compressed air for mining equipment and ventilation.Ragged Chutes Operation Trompes are very simple devices. They consist of four main parts: ''water-supply pipe'' or ''shaft'' with an ''air-inlet'' inside it, ''water outflow pipe'', ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sightseeing Through Whisky
''Sightseeing Through Whisky'' (french: Pauvre John ou les Aventures d'un buveur de whisky) is a 1907 French short silent film credited to Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1000–1004 in its catalogues. Plot A large group of tourists, complete with guidebooks, pith helmets, and a tour guide, arrive at a rocky landscape dominated by a ruined temple. One of the tourists, tired from the sightseeing, lies down on a rock and goes to sleep. A drunken footman, carrying the sightseers' luggage, lags behind the group. As they move on, he sits down and starts drinking extensively from a bottle found among the luggage. As the footman collapses in a drunken stupor, a figure in Ancient Grecian or Roman robes appears and demands the frightened footman's attention. The robed figure summons up various visions: women in classical drapery, posing in tableaux; an ancient festival with dancing Bacchantes; Dionysus himself, riding a donkey; a fountain of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Witch (1906 Film)
''The Witch'' (french: La Fée Carabosse ou le Poignard fatal, literally "The Fairy Carabosse or the Fatal Poignard") is a 1906 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. The film is named for a witch, Carabosse, who tells a poor troubadour that he is destined to rescue a damsel in distress, but demands a high price for a magic charm to help the troubadour in his quest. When the troubadour cheats the witch to obtain the magic charm, she sets out in pursuit of him, and puts various obstacles in his way before finally being vanquished by forces of good. The film, said to have been inspired by Breton folklore, combines the traditional figure of Carabosse—first created in a 17th-century literary fairy-tale by Madame d'Aulnoy—with a varied array of other magical and legendary elements, including ghosts, Druids, and monstrous beasts. It was commissioned by the Grands Magasins Dufayel department store, for children to watch while their parents shopped. Méliès made the fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Human Fly (1902 Film)
''The Human Fly'' (french: L'Homme-Mouche) is a 1902 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 415–416 in its catalogues. Méliès himself plays the Russian dancer. This film is probably the first time Méliès used a vertical vantage point, pointing his camera directly toward the floor; two other technical effects, the substitution splice The substitution splice or stop trick is a cinematic special effect in which filmmakers achieve an appearance, disappearance, or transformation by altering one or more selected aspects of the mise-en-scène between two shots while maintaining th ... and the multiple exposure, completed the illusion. References External links * French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films 1900s dance films 1900s French films {{1900s-France-film-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uncle Tom's Cabin
''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S., and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the mericanCivil War". Stowe, a Connecticut-born woman of English descent, was part of the religious Beecher family and an active abolitionist. She wrote the sentimental novel to depict the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love could overcome slavery. The novel focuses on the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of the other characters revolve. In the United States, ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' was the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. The influence attributed to the book was so great that a likely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin S
The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (died 632 or 633), King of Northumbria and Christian saint * Edwin (son of Edward the Elder) (died 933) * Eadwine of Sussex (died 982), King of Sussex * Eadwine of Abingdon (died 990), Abbot of Abingdon * Edwin, Earl of Mercia (died 1071), brother-in-law of Harold Godwinson (Harold II) *Edwin (director) (born 1978), Indonesian filmmaker * Edwin (musician) (born 1968), Canadian musician * E. W. Abeygunasekera, Edwin Abeygunasekera, Sri Lankan Sinhala politician, member of the 1st State Council of Ceylon, 1st and 2nd State Council of Ceylon * Edwin Ariyadasa (1922-2021), Sri Lankan Sinhala journalist * Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) British artist * Edwin Eugene Aldrin (born 1930), although he changed it to Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut * Edw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Barber Of Seville (1904 Film)
''The Barber of Seville'' (french: Le Barbier de Séville, links=no), also released as ''The Barber of Sevilla, or the Useless Precaution'', was a 1904 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on the 1775 play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 606–625 in its catalogues, where it was advertised as a ''comédie burlesque en 7 actes, d'après Beaumarchais''. Like several other of Méliès's longer films, two versions were released simultaneously: a complete 22-minute print and an abridged print. As with his 1904 film '' Faust and Marguerite'', Méliès prepared a special film score for ''The Barber of Seville'', adapted from the most well-known arias from the Rossini opera. Like at least 4% of Méliès's entire output (including such films as ''A Trip to the Moon'', ''The Impossible Voyage'', ''The Kingdom of the Fairies'', and ''The Rajah's Dream''), some prints were individually hand-colored and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dream Of An Opium Fiend
''The Dream of an Opium Fiend'' (french: Le Rêve d'un fumeur d'opium) is a 1908 French short silent film credited to and featuring Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1081–1085 in its catalogues. Plot In an opium den, an attendant offers a well-dressed gentleman a pipe of opium. The gentleman dreams he is at home, and that his wife and maidservant are pouring him a large glass of beer. However, before he can drink it, the beer flies upward through the window to Phoebe, the Moon goddess, seated on her crescent in the sky. The dream shifts to imagine the Man in the Moon flying through the sky, to meet the beer glass as it travels through space. The dream shifts back to the gentleman's dining room, where he attempts to have a drink with Phoebe and to flirt with her. However, first the beer glass, then Phoebe herself, magically jump around the room, evading the gentleman's attempts at control. Just as the gentleman thinks he has chased P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Eclipse, Or The Courtship Of The Sun And Moon
''The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon'' (originally ''L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune'') is a French silent film made in 1907 by director Georges Méliès. Plot A professor of astronomy gives a lecture instructing on an impending solar eclipse. The class rushes to an observation tower to witness the event, which features an anthropomorphic Sun and Moon coming together. The Moon and the Sun lick their lips in anticipation as the eclipse arrives, culminating in a romantic encounter between the two celestial bodies. Various heavenly bodies, including planets and moons, hang in the night sky; a meteor shower is depicted using the ghostly figures of girls. The professor of astronomy, shocked by all he has witnessed, topples from the observation tower. Fortunately, he lands in a rain barrel, and is revived by his students. Themes ''The Eclipse'' has been remarked upon for its overt sexual symbolism. Christine Cornea posits that the film's primary theme, the clash of scienti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
