Georges Méliès
Known for
One of the great pioneers of film history and the father of cinematic special effects. A magician turned filmmaker, he revolutionized the art of cinema in its early days with hundreds of short films full of tricks and fantasy, among them the legendary 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902), one of the most influential films in history. French director, producer and actor, an absolute benchmark of early cinema and cinematic science fiction, recognized for his visual ingenuity and his overflowing imagination, considered the first great magician of cinema, until his death in 1938.
Georges Méliès
80 Directed
One of the great pioneers of film history and the father of cinematic special effects. A magician turned filmmaker, he revolutionized the art of cinema in its early days with hundreds of short films full of tricks and fantasy, among them the legendary 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902), one of the most influential films in history. French director, producer and actor, an absolute benchmark of early cinema and cinematic science fiction, recognized for his visual ingenuity and his overflowing imagination, considered the first great magician of cinema, until his death in 1938.
Movies
Director
Plays Professeur Barbenfouillis / La Lune
A Trip to the Moon
1902
Director
Plays L'homme qui essaie de dormir
A Terrible Night
1896
Director
Plays Mabouloff
The Impossible Voyage
1904
Director
Plays Père de Jeanne
Joan of Arc
1900
Director
The Melomaniac
1903
Director
The Terrible Eruption of Mount Pelee and Destruction of St. Pierre, Martinique
1902
Director
The Mysterious Retort
1906
Director
Plays Аптекар / Гумова голова
The Man with the Rubber Head
1901
Director
Justinian's Human Torches
1908
Director
Plays The Magician
Whimsical Illusions
1909
Director
Plays le gnome de la pendule / le suisse à l'entrée de l'église
Cinderella
1899
Director
Plays Robinson Crusoé
Robinson Crusoe
1902
Director
The Hallucinated Alchemist
1897
Director
Plays Мефістофель
Le manoir du diable
1896
Director
Plays Man
A Nightmare
1896
Director
Plays Фокусник
The Vanishing Lady
1896
Director
Dreyfus Put in Irons
1899
Director
Plays Beggar
The Christmas Dream
1900
Director
The Ballet Master's Dream
1903
Director
Plays Фокусник
The Four Troublesome Heads
1898
Director
The Fight of Reporters
1899
Director
The Mermaid
1904
Director
Plays Принц Бель-Азор
The Kingdom of the Fairies
1903
Director
Plays Barbe-bleue
Bluebeard
1901
Director
Plays Астроном
The Astronomer's Dream
1900
Director
Plays Mephisto
Le château hanté
1897
Director
A Mix-Up in the Gallery
1906
Director
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1907
Director
Plays Saint Antoine
The Temptation of St. Anthony
1898
Director
Plays The Police Inspector
French Cops Learning English
1908
Director
What Is Home Without the Boarder
1900
Director
Plays Le Sculpteur
The Magician
1898
Director
Tunneling the English Channel
1907
Director
Plays The Captain
Naval Combat in Greece
1897
Director
Plays Satan
The Merry Frolics of Satan
1906
Director
Plays The Man in the Checked Suit
Between Calais and Dover
1897
Director
Plays Wrestler
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
1900
Director
The Spider and the Butterfly
1909
Director
Plays The Devil
The Devil in a Convent
1899
Director
Plays All the members of the orchestra
The One-Man Band
1900
Director
Plays Le professeur Mabouloff
The Conquest of the Pole
1912
Director
Jupiter's Thunderballs
1903
Director
Apparitions
1903
Director
Plays Fernand Labori
The Dreyfus Affair
1899
Director
Summoning the Spirits
1899
Director
A Miracle Under the Inquisition
1904
Director
After the Ball
1897
Director
Off to Bedlam
1901
Director
Plays Excelsior
The Prince of Magicians
1901
Director
The Enchanted Sedan Chair
1905
Latest Trailers
Watch Trailer
The Diabolical Church Window
Full Filmography
Méliès: Tales of Terror
Director
2021
Film
The Voyage of M. Bourrichon
Director
1913
Film
The Knight of the Snow
Devil · Director
1912
Film
Cinderella or The Glass Slipper
Director
1912
Film
The Conquest of the Pole
Le professeur Mabouloff · Director
1912
Film
The Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen
Director
1911
Film
The Diabolical Church Window
Director
1911
Film
Whimsical Illusions
The Magician · Director
1909
Film
The Diabolic Tenant
Le locataire diabolique · Director
1909
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Georges Méliès still alive?
Georges Méliès passed away on January 21, 1938 at age 76.
What are the most famous roles of Georges Méliès?
Georges Méliès is best known for roles in A Trip to the Moon, The Astronomer's Dream, Le manoir du diable.
How many movies has Georges Méliès been in?
Georges Méliès has appeared in 79 movies and 0 TV shows.
What was Georges Méliès's first movie?
The career of Georges Méliès began with A Terrible Night (1896).
What is Georges Méliès's most recent movie or series?
Georges Méliès's most recent release is Gala Méliès, which premiered on December 16, 1929.
Georges Méliès
1861-12-08 · Paris, France
Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come. A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).
In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.