Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

JoeytheBrit This might be a film from the early days of cinema but Melies was already a seasoned practitioner of the infant art back in 1903 and it shows in this relatively sophisticated special effects short. The premise is simply - as all films were back then: two clown dolls create a magic lantern in a child's bedroom and project moving images onto a bedroom wall before revealing a small army of dancing girls concealed in the lantern. The film begins to resemble a variety show at this point before culminating in a fairly surreal sequence featuring an abnormally tall figure taunting the police who arrived to break up the clowns who began fighting over the affections of one of the dancing girls. The film is quite amusing, but even at less than five minutes it seems a little overlong.

tavm Georges Melies really outdoes himself in The Magic Lantern. We see two clown-like men assembling a giant projector lantern where we see film of some couples talking. Then it opens to reveal some dancing girls followed by one particularly athletic one. Then they close and open the lantern to reveal some more girls, this time some slow ballet dancers. Then the police come as the clowns close the box lantern again. When it opens again, we see a jack-in-the-box-like creature moving his neck up and down constantly. At this, the police run away as all the dancing girls come back as we fade out. While enjoyable, I wish the version I saw had some music scoring instead of complete silence. Well worth a look for Melies fans.

Snow Leopard This creative little feature is one of the more entertaining of Georges Méliès's many short visual effects movies. It has some witty ideas that are put onto film with good craftsmanship and plenty of energy, and it is not without some light but subtle commentary as well.It starts with two clowns setting up a "Magic Lantern", and then they use it both as expected and in unexpected ways. There is quite a variety of visual effects, and almost all of them are executed carefully and nearly seamlessly. The tricks with the dancing girls might be particularly impressive, since it clearly took some doing to make them work.The pace also builds nicely, from an easygoing start to increasingly manic activity. It works well, and makes for good entertainment.

wmorrow59 Here's another very brief (4 min.) movie from the stage conjurer Georges Méliès, not as elaborate as his famous Trip to the Moon, but sweet and funny. The Magic Lantern features Punch and Pierrot, two painted Commedia Dell'arte clowns, cavorting in a child's bedroom with over-sized props. The clowns assemble an enormous magic lantern, place a candle inside it, and project moving images onto the wall. After viewing a selection of brief film clips, including a kissing couple, the clowns collapse the sides of the lantern to reveal a surprising number of dancing girls inside. (After all, if it's a Méliès film there must be chorus girls!) A vigorous dance is performed, and one spectacularly athletic brunette dancer seizes the moment and steals the show. At that point, a fight breaks out between Punch and Pierrot over the girl's affections. The other girls flee, and gendarmes arrive. I won't spoil the ending, but it's safe to say the cops soon regret their attempt to intervene.