
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.
Acting (135 movies)

A Trip to the Moon
1902

The Impossible Voyage
1904

The Cook in Trouble
1904

Cinematógrafo 1900
1979

El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
2014

The Untamable Whiskers
1904

The Living Playing Cards
1905

The Infernal Cauldron
1903

The One-Man Band
1900

The Four Troublesome Heads
1898

A Midnight Episode
1899

Joan of Arc
1900

A Terrible Night
1896

Le château hanté
1897

The Vanishing Lady
1896

The Astronomer's Dream
1898

Cinderella
1899

The Conquest of the Pole
1912

The Wandering Jew
1904

Le manoir du diable
1896

The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
2012

Delirium in a Studio
1907

A Desperate Crime
1906

The Wonderful Living Fan
1904

The Black Imp
1905

The Monster
1903

The Temptation of St. Anthony
1898

The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
1905

The Diabolic Tenant
1909

The Man with the Rubber Head
1901

The Devil in a Convent
1899

The Mermaid
1904

Long Distance Wireless Photography
1908

An Up-to-Date Conjurer
1899

The Merry Frolics of Satan
1906

The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
1900

The Hilarious Posters
1906

The Dreyfus Affair
1899

The Infernal Cake-Walk
1903

The Clockmaker's Dream
1904

The Melomaniac
1903

Summoning the Spirits
1899

Extraordinary Illusions
1903

Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
1904

Hat of Many Surprises
1901

Going to Bed Under Difficulties
1900

Jupiter's Thunderballs
1903

The Terrible Turkish Executioner
1903

The Bewitched Inn
1897

Whimsical Illusions
1909

Apparitions
1903

The Ballet Master's Dream
1903

Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
1903

The Prolific Magical Egg
1902

The Diabolical Church Window
1911

Satan in Prison
1907

Méliès: Tales of Terror
2021

The Doctor's Secret
1909

The Dwarf and the Giant
1901

The Oracle of Delphi
1903

A Moonlight Serenade
1903

The Magician's Cavern
1901

A Mesmerian Experiment
1905

The Mysterious Retort
1906

Playing Cards
1896

An Impossible Balancing Feat
1902

Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
1904

Bluebeard
1901

The Witch
1906

Faust in the Underworld
1903

The Treasures of Satan
1902

The Devil and the Statue
1901

The Mysterious Knight
1899

The Artist and the Dummy
1900

The Christmas Dream
1900

Good Glue Sticks
1907

The Mystical Flame
1903

The Fugitive Apparitions
1904

Gala Méliès
1929

The Kingdom of the Fairies
1903

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
1907

The Brahmin and the Butterfly
1901

A Roadside Inn
1906

The Knight of the Snow
1912

The Magic Lantern
1903

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1907

Pygmalion and Galatea
1898

Alcofribas, The Master Magician
1903

A Nightmare
1896

Tunneling the English Channel
1907

Naval Combat in Greece
1897

Violons d'Ingres
1939

The Extraordinary Voyage
2011

The Mysterious Portrait
1899

The Devilish Plank
1904

Tit for Tat
1904

Conjuring
1896

The Christmas Angel
1904

Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
1902

The Human Fly
1902
Directing (344 movies)

A Trip to the Moon
1902

The Impossible Voyage
1904
Crying and Laughing
1900

Dreyfus Leaving the Lycée for Jail
1899

The Degradation of Dreyfus
1899

The Kingdom of the Fairies
1903

Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
1908

The Living Playing Cards
1905

The Enchanted Sedan Chair
1905

The Untamable Whiskers
1904

The Mermaid
1904

The Scheming Gambler's Paradise
1905

The Cook in Trouble
1904

The Black Imp
1905

The Monster
1903

The Infernal Cauldron
1903

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
1907

The Melomaniac
1903

The Hilarious Posters
1906

The Mysterious Retort
1906

Bluebeard
1901

An Up-to-Date Conjurer
1899

The One-Man Band
1900

The Four Troublesome Heads
1898

The Diabolic Tenant
1909

The Man with the Rubber Head
1901

Good Glue Sticks
1907

The Infernal Cake-Walk
1903

The Oracle of Delphi
1903

After the Ball
1897

Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"
1898

The Bewitched Inn
1897

The Vanishing Lady
1896

Playing Cards
1896

The Surrender of Tournavos
1897

Between Calais and Dover
1897

A Nightmare
1896

A Terrible Night
1896

Panorama from Top of a Moving Train
1898

The Pillar of Fire
1899

The Famous Box Trick
1898

The Temptation of St. Anthony
1898

Adventures of William Tell
1898

The Devil in a Convent
1899

The Astronomer's Dream
1898

The Mysterious Portrait
1899

Suicide of Colonel Henry
1899

The Attempt Against the Life of Maitre Labori
1899

The Fight of Reporters
1899

Dreyfus Put in Irons
1899

Dreyfus Meets His Wife at Rennes
1899

Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon
1899

The Court Martial at Rennes
1899

Dreyfus Court Martial - Arrest Of Dreyfus
1899

The Magician
1898

Addition and Subtraction
1900

Joan of Arc
1900

The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
1900

The Mysterious Knight
1899

The Cook's Revenge
1900

The Magic Book
1900

The Rajah's Dream or The Bewitched Wood
1900

The Microscopic Dancer
1902

The Treasures of Satan
1902

The Magician and the Imp
1902

The Colonel's Shower Bath
1902

The Human Fly
1902

The Marvellous Wreath
1903

An Impossible Balancing Feat
1902

The Coronation of Edward VII
1902

Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
1902

A Fantastical Meal
1900

Eight Girls in a Barrel
1900

How He Missed His Train
1900

What Is Home Without the Boarder
1900

The Doctor and the Monkey
1900

The Christmas Dream
1900

The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
1900

The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
1900

Going to Bed Under Difficulties
1900
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
1900

The Imperceptible Transmutations
1904

The Dwarf and the Giant
1901

The Brahmin and the Butterfly
1901

The Prince of Magicians
1901

Hat of Many Surprises
1901

The Magician's Cavern
1901

An Extraordinary Dislocation
1901

The Bachelor's Paradise
1901

The Devil and the Statue
1901

The Magic Lantern
1903

Apparitions
1903

The Enchanted Well
1903

Extraordinary Illusions
1903
The Indian Sorcerer
1908

The Wandering Jew
1904

Post No Bills
1896

Cinderella
1899

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1907

The Dreyfus Affair
1899