Georges Méliès

1907 Georges Méliès Eclipse De Soleil En Pleine Lune - aka. The Eclipse Courtship Of The Sun And Moon - the magic of Georges Méliès strikes again, as he takes a fanciful look at an eclipse - and wonders what would happen if two celestial bodies were to fall in love …

The Enchanted Sedan Chair (1905), aka. La Chaise à Porteurs Enchantée, by Georges Méliès Before becoming the father of movie special effects, Georges Méliès was a stage magician. Here, he demonstrates some classical stage magic - enhanced with camera trickery. A man stands in front of a backdrop painted with a nature scene. From a fan, he conjures a costume, then a woman appears inside it. An assistant carries in a mannequin; they dress her and she suddenly comes alive. The magic continues: footmen bring in a sedan chair. He covers two seated women with scarves; when he removes the scarves, the women have traded places. The women, the magician, his assistant, and the footmen continue to appear and disappear, changing places and costumes. Then they all disappear, one into another, ending with a curtain call for the entire cast.

The Mermaid (French: La Sirène) is a 1904 French silent trick film by Georges Méliès, the father of motion picture special effects. He walks on stage and sees an empty aquarium. He pours some water from there into his hat, and catches fish out of the hat which he puts into the aquarium. He magically turns into a hobo, keeps fishing, pulls rabbits out of the hat, changes back, and finds a mermaid! He turns her into a lovely young woman, and turns himself into King Neptune.