http://filmjournal.net/melies/2008/05/19/the-magician/ An in-depth look at the cinema's first creative genius Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:15:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 http://filmjournal.net/melies/2008/05/19/the-magician/#comment-509 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:03:39 +0000 http://filmjournal.net/melies/2008/05/19/the-magician/#comment-509 The man in Elizabethan doublet and hose is dressed as Mephistopheles. Compare Méliès' portrait of Mephisto reproduced on the back of the booklet edited by Flicker Alley together with the DVD box set. The magician and the man dressed as Mephisto are the same person, as are the Pierrot, who longs in vain for the meal, and the sculptor, who longs in vain for the pretty lady into whom the bust has been transformed. So the magician is the dominant figure here from beginning to end. Pierrot, in my eyes, does not try to make things appear on the table. It's mere pantomime. He shows us what he would like to see on the table and to which extent his hunger has grown. The scénario of the film leaves no doubt about the identity of the magician and "Mephistopheles." It states, however, that the latter is transformed into the sculptor, which is clearly not the case. ("158 scénarios de films disparus de Georges Méliès," ed. Association "Les Amis de Georges Méliès," Paris, 1986, p. 15). The man in Elizabethan doublet and hose is dressed as Mephistopheles. Compare Méliès’ portrait of Mephisto reproduced on the back of the booklet edited by Flicker Alley together with the DVD box set. The magician and the man dressed as Mephisto are the same person, as are the Pierrot, who longs in vain for the meal, and the sculptor, who longs in vain for the pretty lady into whom the bust has been transformed. So the magician is the dominant figure here from beginning to end.
Pierrot, in my eyes, does not try to make things appear on the table. It’s mere pantomime. He shows us what he would like to see on the table and to which extent his hunger has grown.
The scénario of the film leaves no doubt about the identity of the magician and “Mephistopheles.” It states, however, that the latter is transformed into the sculptor, which is clearly not the case. (”158 scénarios de films disparus de Georges Méliès,” ed. Association “Les Amis de Georges Méliès,” Paris, 1986, p. 15).

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