''The Spider and the Butterfly'' (french: Papillon fantastique) is a 1909 French silent film directed by

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 ...

Production

Méliès plays the magician in the film.

Release and survival

''The Spider and the Butterfly'' was released by Méliès's

Star Film Company The Manufacture de films pour cinématographes, often known as Star Film, was a French film production company run by the illusionist and film director Georges Méliès. History On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended the celebrated first publi ...

, and is numbered 1530–1533 in its catalogues. The end of Méliès's filmmaking career was marked by mounting financial difficulties, forcing him eventually to close his studio. In 1923, Méliès discarded his collection of negative and positive prints for his films. After living forgotten and in poverty for some years, Méliès was rediscovered by film devotées in the late 1920s. On 16 December 1929, a "Gala Méliès" was held at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, reintroducing Méliès and his work to posterity. The Gala Méliès included projection of eight Méliès films that had managed to be recovered, including ''The Spider and the Butterfly'' (the others were '' Whimsical Illusions'', '' The Diabolic Tenant'', '' The Wandering Jew'', ''

A Trip to the Moon ''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel ''From the Earth to the Moon'' and its 1870 s ...

'', ''

Baron Munchausen's Dream ''Baron Munchausen's Dream'' (french: Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchausen), also known as ''Les Aventures de baron de Munchausen'' and ''Monsieur le Baron a trop bien dîné'', is a 1911 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès ...

'', '' The Merry Frolics of Satan'', and ''

The Conquest of the Pole ''The Conquest of the Pole'' (french: À la conquête du pôle) is a 1912 French silent science fantasy film directed by and starring Georges Méliès. The film, loosely inspired by contemporary events and by Jules Verne's ''Voyages Extraordinai ...

''). After the Gala, the print of ''The Spider and the Butterfly'' went missing once again; it was presumed

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

as of 2008. A fragment of the film was rediscovered in time to be included in a 2010 DVD collection of some of Méliès's films.

References

External links

* Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films 1909 films 1900s rediscovered films French black-and-white films French fantasy films 1900s fantasy films Rediscovered French films 1900s French films {{1900s-France-film-stub