"Le grand Méliès" is a French black-and-white short film with documentary elements from 1952, so this one is already over 65 years old and it is among the more known career efforts by writer and director Georges Franju. It's an early, but not very early career effort from him. When it was released, Méliès had already been dead for almost 15 years, but his significant other was still alive and we get to see her in here on several occasions, like towards the end when she buys flowers for her late man's grave. This film is a family affair altogether as she is not the only Méliès family member included in this one. Not at all. Méliès' son plays his father and I think it is the granddaughter who does some narrating. All in all, I would say that this short film offers at least as much from the audible side than from the visual. What we hear is at least as memorable, maybe more memorable, compared to what we see. Which is quite ironic given the fact we heard nothing in Méliès' original works back then, but yeah this is not supposed to say what we see is bad or mediocre or anything, it is still pretty good as we see the movie magic from the master's works, here and there some nice recordings from Méliès' sets. Just what we hear is so so informative and there is no denying that this is not just one of the best short films of its respective year, but one of the best films as a whole. People should really see this one. It is the second time I watched it now and it was (almost) as good as the first time. Quite a shame that cinema audiences who go watch Avengers, Hobbits, Beasts and all kinds of other film phenomenons these days have no clue who Georges Méliès was. Allmost as if he was right when he struggled with his craft and burnt so much of his efforts. But he wasn't right. He was a pioneer and a genius, one of the most defining, probably the most defining, man from the very early years of cinema. His vision was groundbreaking without a doubt. So give this short film a go and if you haven't then go see Scorsese's Hugo afterwards, in which Ben Kingsley brings Méliès back to life as well in a truly memorable manner. But now back to this one here. I highly recommend checking it out. A must-see for film students, a good watch for anybody else who is interested in more than just explosions, modern visual effects and teenage schmaltz movies. Film at its most essential.
Review of Le grand Méliès
