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A Trip to the Moon (1902)

 
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Steve Joyce
Solar Explorer


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:56 pm    Post subject: A Trip to the Moon (1902) Reply with quote

I'll start out with some potpourri:

For a early short film, there have been a lot of versions through the years. When I 1st saw the movie there was the basic B&W with so-so music. Later releases had the celebration at the end and/or a narrative (as originally written by ol' George himself). Last but not least, there is now the recently restored colorized footage.

~ Speaking of the narrative . . . Melies seemed to be paying homage to a number of writers in the names he gives his astronauts . . . e.g. Voltaire, Michel de Nostredame & Francois Rabelais.

~ It's been said that Melies' earlier film called "La Lune à un Mètre" was pirated and re-dubbed . . . A Trip to the Moon.

That's it for now. Anybody got more?

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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17017
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm glad you asked, Steve! Here's something I wrote about twenty years ago for this movie.
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[Also released as: "Voyage to the Moon"]

French film pioneer Georges Melies was the producer, writer, director, star, and production designer for the first science fiction "epic" (twenty-one minutes long, when movies were usually less than three).

Melies constructed the plot from the very best elements of H.G. Wells' "First Men in the Moon" (published only one year earlier), along with Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", and a dash of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

Melies and fellow astronauts board a bullet-shaped spacecraft which is loaded into a space gun and fired right into the weeping eye of the Man In The Moon. The explorers encounter a lunar snow storm, discover a cavern filled with giant mushrooms, and are captured by Selenite-like Moon men who present the adventurers to the king of the Moon.

When the Earthmen escape, they learn that the Selenites explode when struck by an umbrella — one of the first special effects in film history. Melies, a former stage magician, achieved the effect by stopping the camera briefly so that the Selenite could move out of frame and a smoke bomb could be placed in the spot where the motionless actor (Melies) would strike it just as the camera was restarted.

The explorers return to Earth in their spacecraft and splash down in the ocean, where the audience is treated to a glimpse of undersea life. After being rescued, the explorers are honored with parades.

In 1907 Melies also produced the first film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

A Trip to the Moon was unofficially shown in the United States by an unscrupulous American producer who retitled it A Trip to Mars. Copyright laws for motion pictures were vague at best in those days, and they didn't apply to foreign-made films, making them fair game for cinematic robbery.

Today, science fiction fans and film historians can easily view [b]A Trip to the Moon[b] on the laserdisk of "Around the World in 80 Days".

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:33 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Casey62
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Joined: 09 Feb 2016
Posts: 13
Location: Chicago

PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I mean it when I say A TRIP TO THE MOON is one of my favorite movies.

It's great to watch after a full run of heavier stuff like THINGS TO COME, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, or 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY (all personal favorites as well). Despite the fact that Georges Melies' film is 114 years old, I'm less struck by its age than I am by its — hold on to your hats — freshness.

That's right. For me, A TRIP TO THE MOON is like a tonic that brings me full circle to what cinema was originally meant to be when it was still a wide open frontier — simple, fun, magical, and whimsical.

Before it became necessary to adopt sophisticated storylines and as real-as-can-be special effects. I guess you could call it the "so old it's new" sensibility.

What especially adds to this is the electronica music score by the French band Air, that accompanies Flicker Alley's stupendous Blu-ray restoration of a nitrate, hand-colored print of A TRIP TO THE MOON. I know many purists of silent film bash the score, preferring a more traditional approach, but to me it only proves what a truly timeless film it is for its capacity to be interpreted with the most modern musical setting.
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Eadie
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 1695

PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the same picture in it's original hand-colored form:


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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Hey, look what I found — with the help of Bulldogtrekker!

This is a restored version of the 1902 film, with a picture quality which stunned me. The colorization is subtle and appealing. The speed has been corrected flawlessly, giving the people a completely natural motion. Very Happy

Enjoy!
Very Happy
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_____________________ A Trip to the Moon


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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