LE GRAND MELIES (1952)
Article 5225 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-9-2016
Directed by Georges Franju
Featuring Jeanne d’Alcy, Francois Lallement, Andres Melies
Country: France
What it is: Biography / Homage

The life of film-maker Georges Melies is shown.

This short in and of itself isn’t genre, but any exploration of the work of Melies is bound to have some fantastic content, if for no other reason than it would probably have to feature footage from his most famous film, A TRIP TO THE MOON. It’s a lovely homage to the pioneer film-maker, and it has the novelty of featuring his wife and star Jeanne d’Alcy as herself. Melies is portrayed by his own son, Andres Melies, who bears a striking resemblance to his father and gives a good performance here. There’s a nice lyrical magic to the piece, especially during a sequence where Melies performs magic tricks for a couple of youngsters visiting his toy shop. The main limitation of the movie is that it’s really too short to give the full story of his life, but the main points are covered, and the movie is quite lovely.