THE MAGIC DICE (1905)
aka The Crystal Casket, Le Phenix
Article 4633 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-18-2014
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast unknown
Country: France
What it is: Magic short
A magician performs magic with giant dice.
Apparently, this is only a fragment of the complete film, and usually that means that I wouldn’t bother with it. However, given that it appears to be a somewhat plotless magic film, it’s not like there’s a lot of story missing; the missing footage would probably have consisted of more magic. I don’t know how long the entire short was, but the fragment is fairly entertaining; it looks like it would have been one of the better films of this type from Melies.