COMICAL CONJURING (1903)
aka Jacques et Jim, Jack and Jim
Article 4715 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-22-2014
Directed by Georges Melies
Featuring Georges Melies
Country: France
What it is: “Magic Trick” short

A clown and his assistant perform magic tricks.

For those of you who have been following this series recently, all I can say is that we have another one of Melies’s “magic trick” shorts here. This one takes more of an overt slapstick approach, which is a bit of a pity, because Melies was better at visual wit than slapstick. Most of the tricks involve a barrel and a vat filled (or not filled, as the case may be) with water. It’s one of Melies’s lesser takes on this type of thing.