Georges Méliès

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.

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.

One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.

An account of the extraordinary life of film pioneer Georges Méliès (1861-1938) and the amazing story of the copy in color of his masterpiece A Trip to the Moon (1902), unexpectedly found in Spain and restored thanks to the heroic efforts of a group of true cinema lovers.

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 look back at the life, style and influences of the famed filmmaker Georges Méliès and an examination of his role in the story of "Hugo."

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.

An astronomer has a terrifying dream.

Tribute to Segundo de Chomón. Semi-documentary featuring short films and appearances by actors who explain his works, such as Inma de Santis, Jesús Gúzman, and Ana Mariscal.

Georges Méliès makes a woman disappear, then reappear.

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

A documentary that details the process of restoring 270 of the 520 lost films of pioneering director Georges Méliès, all orchestrated by a Franco-American collaboration between Lobster Films, the National Film Center, and the Library of Congress.

A young woman becomes the eighth wife of the wealthy Bluebeard, whose first seven wives have died under mysterious circumstances.

A magician conjures up a mermaid while fishing.

Gugusse, a clown, is both astounded and bewildered upon seeing the mechanical movements of an automaton.

A walk through the life and work of the brilliant French filmmaker Georges Méliès (1861-1938), pioneer of special and visual effects.

A bearded man hangs up a wreath and, like any good magician, waves his hands inside of it and under it to show us it's only a wreath…

A man has a fantastical nightmare involving, among other things, a grinning malevolent moon.

A devil wearing bat-like wings and brandishing a trident dances around a giant pot, conjuring forth flame from his trident to lit a fire beneath the pot. After the devil works the fire with bellows, an angelic woman emerges from the pot. The devil and the pot vanish as the woman performs a dance, waving about her diaphanous sleeves until she conjures forth another fire, then she rises amongst the smoke into the air.

Lost in the streets of Paris, Georges Méliès is looking everywhere for the Salle Pleyel. On the wall he sees an enormous Gala poster bearing his picture. He dives head first into the poster.

A science fantasy film that deals with an extraordinary race to the north pole by rival parties of balloonists. Based on the novel "The Adventures of Captain Hatteras" by Jules Verne.

The extraordinary life of cinema pioneer Segundo de Chomón.

Georges Méliès adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, the first film adaptation of the story. Filmed in black & white, Méliès would then paint the film by hand to colour it. Originally a 15 minute film, twelve and a half minutes of painted film have been found and have been restored.

Pioneer filmmaker Georges Méliès performs his cine-magic act.

A penniless troubadour consults witch Carabosse about his future, but offends her by paying with a bag of sand. He evades the witch's revenge, and saves the beautiful princess.

A chemist carries out a bizarre experiment with his own head.

The Melies version of the old Rip Van Winkle tale.

A magician does tricks with the aid of his assistant, the Human Pump.

Two travellers are tormented by Satan from inn to inn and eventually experience a buggy ride through the heavens courtesy of the Devil before he takes one of them down to Hell and roasts him on a spit.

St. Anthony is tempted by visions of women, including one that is transformed from the image of Jesus Christ Himself!

The plot follows King Edward VII and President Armand Fallières dreaming of building a tunnel under the English Channel.

In this scene is shown a magician behind an ordinary table, upon which he suddenly and mysteriously causes to appear a large box, into which he leaps. The sides of the box fall to the ground, but instead of containing the magician a lively clown steps forth who further mystifies the audience by causing the box to disappear, and in its place is seen a fully laid table with a smoking dinner, to which the clown applies himself. The table, however, suddenly disappears much to the astonishment of the clown, who is confronted by the magician in the garb of Mephistopheles. This he suddenly changes to that of a sculptor, and in the background is seen a pedestal with the bust of a young lady, which comes to life as the sculptor applies the mallet and chisel.

A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into pandemonium.

The film, a parody of the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, follows a fisherman, Yves, who dreams of traveling by submarine to the bottom of the ocean, where he encounters both realistic and fanciful sea creatures, including a chorus of naiads played by dancers from the Théâtre du Châtelet. Méliès's design for the film includes cut-out sea animals patterned after Alphonse de Neuville's illustrations for Verne's novel.

A divinely inspired peasant woman becomes an army captain for France and then is martyred after she is captured.

As a conjurer awaits an audience, a procession announces the arrival of a royal representative, carried in a sedan chair, to see him. The conjurer then has a large box brought in. It is opened, revealing a very large folding fan. When the fan is spread out, the designs on it begin to change and move. And this is far from the last of the surprises that the conjurer has in store.

Georges Méliès's first attempt at Cinderella was in 1899. That film was extraordinary then for having multiple scenes and a semblance of a narrative; additionally, the use of dissolves as transitions in it influenced other filmmakers for years to do the same. Méliès was the cinema world's preeminent leader then. By 1912, however, that was no longer the case; frankly, as evidenced by this feature, his style had become dated. Moreover, Méliès had begun to adopt techniques from other filmmakers, such as direct cuts instead of dissolves, and there's even a match on action shot during the slipper trying-on scene.

A weary traveler stops at an inn along the way to get a good night's sleep, but his rest is interrupted by odd happenings when he gets to his room--beds vanishing and re-appearing, candles exploding, pants flying through the air and his shoes walking away by themselves.

A man has an encounter with several spooky apparitions in a castle that is evidently owned by the Devil.

A green-skinned demon places a woman and two courtiers into a flaming cauldron.

A comprehensive landmark collection celebrating the foundational work of French illusionist and cinema pioneer Georges Méliès. Painstakingly assembled from archival holdings worldwide by film preservers Eric Lange and David Shepard, this 5-disc collection spans Méliès' entire cinematic career across 173 rare, original silent films—ranging from his debut, Playing Cards (Partie de cartes, 1896), to his final production, Voyage de la famille Bourrichon (1913). Showcasing masterpieces like A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902) alongside hand-tinted prints and special effects marvels, the set captures the birth of narrative trick photography, fantasy, and cinematic showmanship.

In this film, we show the interior of a doctor's office. A patient enters, and judging from the expression on his face, he is in great pain. The doctor tells him that he is troubled with acute indigestion, and immediately places him upon the operating table. He begins his treatment by cutting off the patient's arms and legs with a huge saw. After removing these members, he takes a large knife and makes an incision in the unfortunate's stomach large enough to put his arm in. He then removes such things as bottles, knives and forks, lamps and other articles of furniture from the patient's body ...

The entire story of Christmastide is here depicted. The scene opens in a large boudoir of an apparently wealthy man's home. His children, assisted by their governess, are about to retire. Before lying down they hang up their stockings on the edge of the bed. The picture changes and night appears. We see the housetops of the town and angels are flying about depositing packages in each of the chimneys. (Edison Catalog)

A magician makes a woman appear and disappear.

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

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)

Pluto, having seen the earth, comes back home amazed at the success of that well-known dance, the "cake-walk." He has brought back with him two noted well-known dancers, who start their favorite dance amidst the flames.

Three burglars invade a house, kill two people, and blind a third person, a woman. The police arrest the wrong man.

A lost film. A man digging inside an Egyptian tomb chops up a mummy, then resurrects the woman inside it. This film is presumably lost.

Faust and his love Marguerite are sentenced to Hell where they are showed the torture that awaits.

Into a photography studio full of large fantastic machines steps an elderly couple. The bearded proprietor explains the equipment and gives them a demonstration: he starts machines whirring, and projects a painting of three women onto a large screen; suddenly the women begin to move. The customers are impressed. First the women sits in the special seat: she's projected onto the screen, and her good nature comes out in the laughing image. Then it's the man's turn, but the machine discloses a vastly different nature in him. Will his reaction threaten our proprietor's inventions?

Alone in his room at an inn, a lustful old man is haunted by spirits.

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.

A man tries to get a good night's sleep, but is disturbed by a giant spider that leaps onto his bed, and a battle ensues in hilarious comic fashion.

Doctors blow to pieces a patient in a hydrotherapy machine and re-assemble him.

The Merchant, the Farrier, and the Roman accompany a mysterious woman into a magical cave full of terrors and wonders.

A wizard sleeps at a table in his well-appointed sitting room. From a drawer in the table, a snake appears.

Shows hobbies of people who do an ordinary job in the day. Made for New York Fair.

A poor but honest man wins great wealth, and the hand of a beautiful princess, after facing a series of exciting trials in the tunnels and catacombs of ancient Araby. Guided by the mysterious Khalafar, the troupe (alongside him go some cowardly scholars) encounter skeletons, fire-breathing lizards, and mirages on their journey through the lower world.

A group of people take roller skating too far.

In this film, Méliès concocts a combination fairy- and morality tale about the foolishness of trying to look too deeply into the workings of an unstable and inscrutable universe. At a medieval school, an old astronomer begins to teach a class of young men, all armed with telescopes, about the art of scrutinising an imminent eclipse. When a mechanical clock strikes twelve, all the young men rush to the windows and fix their telescopes on the heavens.

The first movie ever censored for political reasons. The title refers to the then contemporaneous Dreyfus affair in which a Jewish military officer was falsely convicted of treason, and it was alleged that he was framed due to anti-semitism.

The background of this picture represents a scene along the beautiful river Seine in Paris. A gentleman enters, and taking a blackboard from the side of the picture, he draws on it a sketch of a novelist. Then, standing in the centre, he causes the living features of his sketch to appear in the place of his own, which is utterly devoid of whiskers. The change is made so mysteriously that the eye cannot notice it until one sees quite another person in the place of the first. Again another sketch is shown on the board, this one being that of a miser; then an English cockney; a comic character; a French policeman, and last of all, the grinning visage of Mephistopheles. It is almost impossible to give this film a more definite description; suffice it to say that it is something entirely new in motion pictures and is sure to please. (Méliès Catalog)

A band-leader has arranged seven chairs for the members of his band. When he sits down in the first chair, a cymbal player appears in the same chair, then rises and sits in the next chair. As the cymbal player sits down, a drummer appears in the second chair, and then likewise moves on to the third chair. In this way, an entire band is soon formed, and is then ready to perform.

A rocky sea voyage as reenacted by Georges Méliès.

A man rents an apartment and furnishes it in remarkable fashion.

A film from Méliès has him playing a magician who does a few tricks including making a woman disappear.

A magician creates a troupe of dancers out of thin air.

An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx.

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.

This film from George Melies is sadly one that's only available in fragments. The film starts off with a title card stating that a drunk man has just thrown his family out a window. We see a couple of them landing on the ground and then we go back to the room where the drunk is now trying to kill himself.

A wall full of advertising posters comes to life.

The title is vital, since the bulk of the action consists of a well-dressed man magically producing a series of items to furnish a bare room, culminating in his summoning up a charming lady to share his meal. Hearing the guards approaching, the man reverses the process, ending with a bare room when the two men enter.

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.

Only 8 surviving seconds of a man getting great pleasure from smoking a cigar.

Two men in a cave perform magic.

In this hand-colored short, a magician and his assistant do a series of magic tricks, including making potted plants appear, among others. Melies played the magician, and the actor Manuel played his assistant.

A boy is led into the frame by two nursemaids who give him a big ball to play with. For the remainder of the film heads appear and disappear, stage props blow up and turn into other objects or people, and finally Bob Kick disappears.

A traveler at an inn is harassed by a mischievous devil in his room.

A magician's hat offers many surprises.

An inventor dreams that his newly designed airship takes flight.

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)

A magician produces a living portrait of himself.

French short about King Francis I and his jester Triboulet, who form the basis for Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse (and Verdi's opera Rigoletto).

There's a scene in a village, then there's a scene out in the wilderness with what appear to be gods, and a giant crab, and a giant frog... then there's another scene in the village... and that's it.

The German legend of a scholar's unholy pact with the Devil would have been very familiar to most moviegoers (at least European ones), so Georges Méliès' early cinematic treatment likely got away with simply offering a fancifully illustrated late episode without the earlier narrative context (however, spoken narration provides some of the latter in this restored print). Tempted by Mephistopheles with all kinds of dancing and ethereal babes, Faust is at first excited and then terrified by the sight of various demons and monsters. The painted-set designers really went hog wild on this one, depicting the (sometimes sexy) torments of subterranean Hell with in bold terms (even when ballerinas prance in the foreground). (Dennis Harvey, Fandor)

No description available.

A box of valued jewels is placed inside the tomb of Delphi. A thief breaks into the tomb and steals it, but soon the ghost of Delphi appears and puts a curse on him.

A magician performs tricks with a marvelous wreath.

An early horror treatment of the hero's encounter with the one-eyed man-eating Cyclops.

One of the last films Georges Méliès made. By now, he was under contract for his former rival Pathé, where he made a few of his most lavish productions, including this one. Here, Méliès performed in front of the camera as the Devil […]. His incarnation of Satan this time is a sprightly antagonist who kidnaps a princess by locking her in a cage and taking off through the sky in a dragon-pulled carriage. […]

With godly entrapments, Zeus appears on the horizon, engages Hermes as an audience, and tries to throw some thunderbolts. They fizzle. Hephaestus tries to make some repairs but succeeds only in heating the bolts and burning Zeus's hands. Zeus conjures nine muses, but do their incantations help? He dismisses them as well as a visiting Pan, and his fits of pique become counter-productive. Can he get his powers back?

The scene takes place in front of a barrack, where a young soldier is on duty --most laughable and comical

The staff of an inn play a cruel trick on a guest.

Here we have an old scholar/alchemist brooding over a book, challenged by the devil, and going through the familiar sorcery to create a woman by throwing pieces of clothing against a stain-glass church window, like a jigsaw puzzle (and later in reverse). The woman also multiplies herself five-fold so as to match a similar paravent.

The film reproduces a magic act Méliès performed at his Paris theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Conjuring is notable as Méliès's second film, and as his first to move beyond the actuality film genre pioneered by the Lumière brothers and experiment with using the camera to capture a theatrical magic act. (Later in 1896, with his discovery of the substitution splice technique, Méliès was able to begin augmenting his theatrical illusions with new special effects unique to film.) Conjuring can thus be seen as Méliès's first foray into the world of fiction film. The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and numbered 2 in its catalogues.

A series of fantastical wrestling matches.

A magician along with three doppelgangers perform an elaborate balancing act.

This shows a prince entering upon the stage of the King's private theatre. He is about to do a few mystifying tricks for the amusement of the court.

An officer calls his sailors to the deck. They assemble around the canon while the officer scans the horizon. They all turn in the direction of the camera to look in the distance. At the same time the ship is hit! This scene is a filmed reconstruction of the 1897 Greek-Turkish war.

Showing Pygmalion at work in his studio on the statue of Galatea, who, on being completed, comes to life. He attempts to clasp her to his arms, when the bust leaves the body and crossing the room mocks at him standing with the lower portion of her body in his hands. Further startling illusions are seen in this most beautiful picture.

A magician performs a series of magic tricks involving a boy and a box.

One fine day at a barbershop that has stupid staff and very rude customers.

It's late in the evening, and the ballet master's bed has been prepared for him. But he cannot take his mind off of his work, and instead of going to sleep he paces the floor and tries out dance steps. Finally, he goes to bed and falls asleep, but ballet dominates even his dreams. He sees two dancers who seem to come right into his room as they perform, and that's just the beginning.

A cook has his hands full with three mischievous devils, who pop in and out of his kitchen.

A very enthusiastic magician performs several tricks.

A man is murdered and the killer brought to justice by guillotine. This film is partly lost.

A woman slips into her bed with the help of her servant. While the film is lost, there is a new digital version based on re-creation from a flipbook produced by Léon Beaulieu around the same time

A man attempts to engender a transformation of a giant worm into a butterfly.

Characters from a large magic book come to life.

As scene as pleasing as incomprehensible. A juggler summons two chairs, which come to the stage jumping and twirling around. Across the back of these chairs the operator places a sheet of glass on which he lays a box about four inches high. He then takes a table cover, with his servant's help, rolls it up and from the centre emerges a lady, beautifully dressed. At the juggler's order she jumps in the box, in which she completely disappears.

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

A poor family in a rundown house where snow falls through the broken roof, there's no coal to heat the pathetic little stove, mother is sick, father sends daughter out to beg. Rejected by other beggars, the girl collapses in the snow…

The film, of which only fragments are known to survive, features Méliès as a magician making playing-card figures come to life in miniature.

A knight performs several magic tricks with a disembodied head materialized from a chalkboard drawing.

A Jew who mocked Jesus on the cross is visited by a devil and an angel.

A magic trick is performed with a long plank with two pots built into it, both with holes in the bottom. Pretty girls are part of the magic.

The opening title card explains that a painter has just finished his work when his assistant comes in and accidentally drinks varnish. The film then picks up as the painter goes haywire and sends the assistant into the painting.

Upon a visit to UVM's Lane Series in the Spring of 2022, Jean-Francois Alcolea offered to conduct a workshop to UVM film students and others on his piece, "Right in the Eye". A group of students from FTS 141 Video Production, teamed up to document the day and Jean-Francios' magical performance. They all left with a smile.

A weary clock-maker dozes off in a chair. While he is asleep, three women suddenly appear in the midst of his shop. They proceed to show the sleeping clock-maker some new kinds of clocks that they know how to make.

A very simple gag film as a young lady substitutes herself for a dummy in order to play a practical joke on an artist.

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 conjurer (along with two duplicates) conjure up (and then cause to vanish) a beautiful woman head-first.

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.

A Chinese conjurer stands next to a table, it becomes two tables. A fan becomes a parasol, lanterns appear and disappear. The conjurer spins the open parasol in front of himself, and a dog leaps out from behind it. The dog becomes a woman, then a masked man appears. The conjurer sits them each on a box a few feet apart: suddenly the woman and man have changed places. The disappearing and the transfers continue in front of a simple backdrop.

A family sits down to enjoy a meal that ends up being fraught with complications.

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

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 compilation of three short trick films by Georges Méliès: El melómano (1903) (The Melomaniac aka The Music Lover)(1903), El monstruo (1903) (The Monster) (1903) and El verdugo turco (1904) (The Terrible Turkish Executioner) (1904).

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.

Lucifers fall from grace

A performing magician divides into two people. The doubles then take turns doing tricks before merging back into one man.

A prince gets the help of a fairy to aid in his conflict with a wizard.

The seven-minute film takes place inside a classroom where some cops are learning English.

In a public place in Constantinople at the corner of a bazaar, the executioner is seated upon a stone and is resting from his daily labors while eating a crust of bread. Suddenly there come running into the place a lot of Turkish men and women preceding some Turkish policemen, who drag along four prisoners in chains. The policemen shut up the four prisoners in the pillory. Their four heads stick up through the huge plank, which is provided with four openings. One of the policemen urges the executioner to decapitate the prisoners. He accordingly seizes a mighty sabre and cuts off by a single stroke the four heads, which roll upon the ground.

A magic show.

A peddler of "the best glue" sets up his outdoor stall. A crowd gathers for a demonstration. As he gives his pitch, two observant cops decide drive off his customers and close him down, much to his fury. He seeks revenge as they sit on a park bench.

A conjuror appears to demonstrate a lady with three heads.

Georges Melies the magician. Melies removes his own head, puts it in a glass box on a stool, then grows another one. Melies lights up a cigarette and blows smoke at his old head. The head gets payback by levitating above Melies and spewing water on him.