''Addition and Subtraction'' () is a 1900 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 ...

directed by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...

. It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 234 in its catalogues.

Plot

The film features a magician, Tom Whisky (played by Méliès). The magician sits on the chair that he produced while dancing and a woman appears from the three chairs after each seating (the scene is created using

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 t ...

s), with three women produced in total after consecutive performances. The magician then combines the three women into one large woman, then later "subtracts" a bit to produce a small boy. The magician then adds a bit to make the fat person appear in front of the audience. In the final scene of his performance he splits the fat person to produce the three ladies.

Cast

Méliès plays the magician in the film. The other actors in the film have not been positively identified, but the film historian

Georges Sadoul Georges Sadoul (; 4 February 1904 – 13 October 1967) was a French film critic, journalist and cinema writer. He is known for writing encyclopedias of film and filmmakers, many of which have been translated into English. Biography Sadoul w ...

, analyzing a production still in which the film's three women are posed in a group, believed Jeanne Mareyla to be the woman in the center.

References

External links

* * 1900 films French silent short films French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès Films about magic Silent French horror films 1900s French films Trick films Articles containing video clips {{1900s-France-film-stub