''The Doctor's Secret'' (french: Hydrothérapie fantastique) is a 1909 French silent

trick film In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects. History The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his works remain th ...

by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1476–1485 in its catalogues. Méliès appears in the film as the hydrotherapist. Photographic evidence suggests that the film was a new version of an unidentified Méliès film from around 1900, for which two

still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been use ...

s survive at the

Cinémathèque Française The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...

. The bathtub prop was reused from Méliès's 1907 film '' Rogues' Tricks''; special effects in the film were worked with substitution splices,

stage machinery Stage machinery, also known as stage mechanics, comprises the mechanical devices used to create special effects in theatrical productions. See also * Scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the ...

, and pyrotechnics.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor's Secret 1909 Film French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films Trick films