Georges Méliès

A juggler enters upon the scene, picks up a skull, throws it into the air, catches it in his hands, where it is transformed into a handkerchief. The handkerchief, after being twirled about a wand, is changed to a napkin, and afterward to a tablecloth. Out of the table cloth comes a servant.

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

In a medieval castle, a dark magician thought to be Mephistopheles conjures up a series of bizarre creatures and events in order to torment a pair of interloping cavaliers.

A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out? Méliès based the art direction on engravings by Gustave Doré. First known example of a fairy-tale adapted to film, and the first film to use dissolves to go from one scene to another.

The leader of a marching band demonstrates an unusual way of writing music.

Three friends are playing cards in a beer garden. One of them orders drinks. The waitress comes back with a bottle of wine and three glasses on a tray. The man serves his friends. They clink glasses and drink. Then the man asks for a newspaper. He reads a funny story in it and the three friends burst out laughing while the waitress merely smiles.

This is a moving picture that moves. Positively the greatest magical picture ever offered. A Hindoo magician appears and dances for the entertainment of six pretty maidens. Then, to the astonishment of all, he runs up the wall, dances and turns handsprings in mid-air, introducing many tricks that are entirely new in animated photography. The most puzzling of all the mystical series. (Star Film Catalog)

A wall full of advertising posters comes to life.

The setting of this fantastic scene represents the hall of an old chateau in which a miser has locked up seven large bags containing his wealth. Satan, who has made his way into the chateau, puts the seven bags in a strong box, and makes with his hands some cabalistic motions. The miser comes into the hall and is greatly astonished to find his fortune missing. He opens the coffer and immediately the bags leap out. He gathers them up and puts them back into the coffer. When he opens it again he finds that they have been transformed into seven young girls, who rush out and chase after him, beating him unmercifully. They shut him up in the coffer from which his gold has vanished. The miser pushes open the lid of the coffer, and to his profound despair finds that both young girls and money have disappeared. (This view is most sensational in its mysterious scenes.) (Star Film Catalog)

A traveller is shown to a room in an inn. After a brief dispute with the hostess and a porter, he is left to himself. But strange things begin to happen in his room, and before long he has created a disturbance that has everyone running to his room to find out what is going on.

A magician transforms a woman into a portrait of herself, then restores her to life.

A man takes off his clothes in preparation for bed, only for new clothes to spontaneously generate, leading to comical consternation.

A sleeping apartment of a friend who retires for the night. The rays of the moon are shining upon the bed through the window. He is suddenly awakened by a bug of gigantic proportions crawling over him. This he attacks and destroys, but before again retiring he notices three more climbing up the wall. He lights the candle and applies the flame to each, causing them to explode with fine smoke effect. After this slaughter he retires in contentment and soon sleeps the sleep of the just. A very funny subject.

A magician explores two halves of his self: The Dwarf and the Giant.

Pierrot goes to the house of his love to serenade her, but her father kicks him out. Soon the moon and its goddess Diana come towards the man and offers him something better.

Two impish clowns construct a magic lantern. They prop it up at an angle, and use it to project pictures onto a wall. When the picture show ends, they open up the lantern to reveal a group of dancing girls inside - and this is only the first of the indications that this lantern really is magical.

A human skeleton is placed upon a table by an attendant. When the attendant leaves the room the skeleton begins kicking his legs and throwing his arms about and suddenly turns into a magician. The magician produces an egg, performing several sleight-of-hand tricks, and places it upon the table with the small end downward. He then crudely draws a human face upon the shell, and the egg immediately begins growing larger and larger until it reaches the size of a normal head.

At the beginning of the scene Romeo in his gondola sings to Juliet a sentimental song, then goes away. Hardly has he departed when the colonnade falls to pieces, disclosing the devil. Juliet, frightened, runs to the window and calls Romeo. The latter attempts to enter and protect his fiancée, but at a gesture from the devil the window is instantly covered with a grating and Romeo makes frantic efforts to break it. The devil begins to dance a wild dance before Juliet, who is beside herself from terror. The devil gradually becomes the size of a giant (a novel effect). Juliet implores the statue of Madonna, which becomes animated, descends from its pedestal, and stretching out its arms orders the devil to disappear. (Méliès Catalog)

Georges Méliès' adaptation of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is most distinguished, today, for being a color film of the classic story. Color was rare in 1902 (and many years after) as non-tinted color has to be hand painted on the film; this was an arduous task. Also notable is the film's short running time of approximately five minutes. Much of the original work is not covered, but viewers were expected to be familiar with the story, and enjoy the filmed highlights. There are a couple of scenes missing; according to contemporary reports, Gulliver's shipwreck was certainly included. You can do a lot in a few minutes, as Mr. Méliès includes a re-make of his own "Une partie de cartes" (1896), which already looked like something previously covered by the Lumière Brothers.

The magician appears upon the stage with an imp as his assistant. The imp holds a piece of cloth in his hand. At the command of the magician the cloth is suddenly transformed into a beautiful girl, clad in tights. A barrel is then introduced and the girl enters one end.