The Méliès Mystery

George Méliès, one of my most beloved filmmakers, he will always be in my heart. Although the inventors of the film strip were the Lumiere brothers, it was Mélies who created film as spectacle and the pioneer of visual effects, as the Lumieres themselves said. He was the first person to set up a film studio. He was also a director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and actor, something unique in the history of cinema. Always on the go, he slept very little, but for him it was pleasure, not work, a true visionary. The bitter end of much of his work is such a shame, in a fit of despair he burned all his films in the garden of his house, and only thanks to collectors and the American Film Library about 200 of the 500 films he brought into the world have survived. I'd sign my soul to the devil for a Blu-ray edition of his work :) (11/17/2022)