George Melies Book

I first became aware of Georges Méliès after watching the film 'Hugo'. In the film the Georges Méliès character is played by Ben Kingsley, and is loosely based on the real Méliès. Unfortunately since Méliès was French and most of his work was in France most material about his life is in French. This particular book is not so much a general biography of his life, but focuses more on his accomplishments as a pioneer film maker, and has descriptions and analysis of his cinematic productions. That is why I only give the book three stars. If you want to read a more well rounded bio, check out the Georges Méliès Wikipedia page.

Méliès' father owned a boot-making factory, and after attending school Georges worked there developing a great understanding of how various machines worked. He soon developed an interest in performing illusions and stage magic, including developing automata--self operating machines, or what we might call early robotics. He eventually managed to raise funds to purchase the theatre of magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. (the master escapist Houdini took his name from Houdin). Of course this was not a typical theatre, and included all the trap doors, illusions and other devices needed to master performing shows of magical illusion. As attendance dropped, Méliès attended a demonstration of early film-making and became an early pioneer of the art. In many of his works the same imagination used in creating his stage illusions is utilized in his cinematic works. Not only did he develop his own camera, he developed several techniques including early special effects, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, and substitution splices. He was also an early user of storyboards. Ezra's book is good for film students and those interested in film-making.