Georges Méliès

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1861-12-09

Deathday 1938-01-21 (76 years old)

Place of Birth Paris, France

Also Known As Жорж Мельес, 조르주 멜리에스, Marie Georges Jean Méliès, ジョルジュ・メリエス, マリー・ジョルジュ・ジャン・メリエス

Georges Méliès

Biography

Georges Méliès (December 9, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come.  A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come.  Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician". Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, 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. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).   In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris.  Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers.  Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.  

Known For

Director

1929
Gala Méliès

as Director

1912
1912
1909
1909
1909
1909
1908
1908
1908
1908
1908
Not Guilty

as Director

1908
1908
The Broken Violin

as Director

1908
The Genii of Fire

as Director

1908
His First Job

as Director

1908
The Miser

as Director

1908
Sideshow Wrestlers

as Director

1908
In the Barber Shop

as Director

1908
L'agent gelé

as Director

1907
Good Glue Sticks

as Director

1907
1907
Satan in Prison

as Director

1907
Rogues' Tricks

as Director

1907
1907
1906
1906
1906
Punch and Judy

as Director

1906
Soap Bubbles

as Director

1906
1906
A Roadside Inn

as Director

1906
The Witch

as Director

1906
The Luny Musician

as Director

1906
A Desperate Crime

as Director

1906
1905
1905
The Black Imp

as Director

1905
1905
The Magic Dice

as Director

1905
1905
A Crazy Composer

as Director

1905
Rip's Dream

as Director

1905
STOP THIEF!

as Director

1904
1904
1904
The Mermaid

as Director

1904
1904
The Wandering Jew

as Director

1904
The Firefall

as Director

1904
1904
1904
1904
Tit for Tat

as Director

1904
1904
The Devilish Plank

as Director

1904
1904
1904
1904
1903
The Monster

as Director

1903
1903
The Melomaniac

as Director

1903
1903
1903
1903
The Magic Lantern

as Director

1903
Apparitions

as Director

1903
The Enchanted Well

as Director

1903
1903
1903
1903
The Mystical Flame

as Director

1903
The Mysterious Box

as Director

1903
1903
Comical Conjuring

as Director

1903
1903
The Drawing Lesson

as Director

1902
A Trip to the Moon

as Director

1902
1902
1902
1902
The Human Fly

as Director

1902
Robinson Crusoe

as Director

1902
1902
1902
1902
1901
Bluebeard

as Director

1901
1901
1901
1901
1901
1901
1901
Off to Bedlam

as Director

1901
1901
1901
1901
1901
Painless Dentistry

as Director

1901
Fun in Court

as Director

1901
1901
A Good Trick

as Director

1900
1900
The One-Man Band

as Director

1900
1900
Joan of Arc

as Director

1900
The Cook's Revenge

as Director

1900
The Magic Book

as Director

1900
A Fantastical Meal

as Director

1900
1900
1900
1900
1900
The Two Blind Men

as Director

1900
1900
1900
1899
The Conjurer

as Director

1899
The Pillar of Fire

as Director

1899
1899
1899
1899
1899
1899
1899
Cinderella

as Director

1899
The Dreyfus Affair

as Director

1899
The Human Pyramid

as Director

1899
1899
Cleopatra's Tomb

as Director

1899
1899
A Midnight Episode

as Director

1899
1899
1899
1899
Murder Will Out

as Director

1899
1898
1898
1898
The Magician

as Director

1898
1898
1898
1898
A Woman Surprised

as Director

1898
1898
1897
After the Ball

as Director

1897
The Bewitched Inn

as Director

1897
The Haunted Castle

as Director

1897
1897
1897
On the Roof

as Director

1897
1897
1897
1897
Boxing Match

as Director

1897
An Irritable Model

as Director

1897
1896
The Vanishing Lady

as Director

1896
Playing Cards

as Director

1896
A Nightmare

as Director

1896
A Terrible Night

as Director

1896
Post No Bills

as Director

1896
The Haunted Castle

as Director

1896
Les forgerons

as Director

1896
A Serpentine Dance

as Director

1896
1896
Conjuring

as Director

Actor

2025
A Collection of Silent Films, Given Sound

as The Gnome of the Clock, a halberdier

2021
Méliès: Tales of Terror

as The Melomaniac

2021
The Méliès Mystery

as Self (archive footage)

2014
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo

as Self (archive footage)

2012
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès

as Self (archive footage)

2011
The Extraordinary Voyage

as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

1997
1979
Cinematógrafo 1900

as Self (archive footage)

1978
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma

as Self (archive footage)

1939
Violons d'Ingres

as Himself (archive footage)

1929
Gala Méliès

as Himself

1912
The Conquest of the Pole

as Le professeur Mabouloff

1909
Whimsical Illusions

as The Magician

1909
The Diabolic Tenant

as Le locataire diabolique

1908
The Indian Sorcerer

as The Fakir

1907
1907
1906
The Witch

as The Fairy Carabosse

1906
A Roadside Inn

as Drunk Traveler

1906
The Hilarious Posters

as The Bill Poster

1905
Rip's Dream

as Rip Van Winkle

1905
The Palace of the Arabian Nights

as The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited)

1905
The Living Playing Cards

as The Magician

1904
The Christmas Angel

as The Rag-and-Bone Man / Beggar on Crutches / Coal Seller

1904
1904
The Firefall

as Satan

1904
The Untamable Whiskers

as Man with whiskers

1903
Faust in the Underworld

as Mephistopholes

1903
The Kingdom of the Fairies

as Prince Bel-Azor

1903
1903
1902
Robinson Crusoe

as Robinson Crusoé

1902
The Human Fly

as The Hindoo Magician

1902
A Trip to the Moon

as Professor Barbenfouillis / The Moon

1901
The Man with the Rubber Head

as The Chemist / The India Rubber Head

1901
Bluebeard

as Barbe-bleue

1901
1901
A Maiden's Paradise

as The Wizard

1900
1900
Joan of Arc

as Père de Jeanne

1900
The One-Man Band

as All the members of the orchestra

1900
Up-to-Date Spiritualism

as Le comique excentrique

1900
The Magic Book

as The Magician

1900
1899
The Dreyfus Affair

as Fernand Labori

1899
Cinderella

as The Gnome of the Clock / The Swiss at the Entrance to the Church

1899
A Midnight Episode

as The Sleeping Man (uncredited)

1899
1899
The Conjurer

as Magician

1899
The Mysterious Knight

as Le chevalier mystère

1899
The Mysterious Portrait

as L'illusioniste

1899
Cleopatra's Tomb

as un profanateur de la tombe de Cléopâtre

1898
1898
1898
The Magician

as Le Sculpteur

1898
The Famous Box Trick

as The Magician

1897
Faust and Marguerite

as Méphistophélès

1897
The Bewitched Inn

as The Traveler

1897
Naval Combat in Greece

as The Captain

1897
Between Calais and Dover

as The Man in the Checked Suit

1896
1896
The Haunted Castle

as Mephistopheles

1896
Conjuring

as Himself

1896
A Terrible Night

as L'homme qui essaie de dormir

1896
The Vanishing Lady

as Magician

1896
Playing Cards

as Un joueur de cartes

Producer

1912
1909
1909
1906
The Witch

as Producer

1906
1905
Rip's Dream

as Producer

1905
The Black Imp

as Producer

1904
1904
The Wandering Jew

as Producer

1904
1903
1902
A Trip to the Moon

as Producer

1902
Robinson Crusoe

as Producer

1902
The Human Fly

as Producer

1901
Bluebeard

as Producer

1901
1900
Joan of Arc

as Producer

1899
Cinderella

as Producer

1899
The Pillar of Fire

as Producer

1899
A Midnight Episode

as Producer

1897
The Haunted Castle

as Producer

1897
The Bewitched Inn

as Producer

1896
A Terrible Night

as Producer

1896
The Haunted Castle

as Producer

1896
A Nightmare

as Producer

1896
The Vanishing Lady

as Producer

Writer

1912
1909
Whimsical Illusions

as Screenplay

1909
The Diabolic Tenant

as Screenplay

1908
Excursion to the Moon

as Original Film Writer

1906
1906
The Witch

as Writer

1905
Rip's Dream

as Screenplay

1904
The Impossible Voyage

as Screenplay

1903
The Infernal Cauldron

as Screenplay

1903
1902
A Trip to the Moon

as Screenplay

1902
Robinson Crusoe

as Screenplay

1901
Bluebeard

as Adaptation

1900
Joan of Arc

as Screenplay

1899
The Pillar of Fire

as Screenplay

1897
1897
The Bewitched Inn

as Screenplay

1896
1896
1896
Playing Cards

as Writer

Art

1909
Whimsical Illusions

as Production Design

1909
The Diabolic Tenant

as Production Design

1907
Tunneling the English Channel

as Production Design

1906
The Witch

as Production Design

1906
The Merry Frolics of Satan

as Production Design

1905
Rip's Dream

as Production Design

1905
1904
The Impossible Voyage

as Production Design

1903
The Infernal Cauldron

as Production Design

1903
The Kingdom of the Fairies

as Production Design

1902
A Trip to the Moon

as Production Design

1902
Robinson Crusoe

as Production Design

1901
Bluebeard

as Production Design

1900
Joan of Arc

as Production Design

1899
Cinderella

as Production Design

1899
The Pillar of Fire

as Production Design

1897
The Haunted Castle

as Production Design

1897
The Bewitched Inn

as Production Design

1896
A Terrible Night

as Production Design

1896
The Haunted Castle

as Production Design

1896
A Nightmare

as Production Design

1896
The Vanishing Lady

as Production Design

Editor

1902
1897
1897
1896
A Nightmare

as Editor

1896

Camera

1939
Violons d'Ingres

as Additional Photography

1912
The Conquest of the Pole

as Director of Photography

1898
Panorama from Top of a Moving Train

as Director of Photography

Crew

1979
ORG

as Thanks

1901
The Man with the Rubber Head

as Special Effects

1898
The Four Troublesome Heads

as Special Effects