Georges Méliès (December 9, 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.
Filmography (356 movies)
7.9
7.9
A Trip to the Moon
1902
Screenplay
7.8
7.8
The Extraordinary Voyage
2011
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
7.2
7.2
The Man with the Rubber Head
1901
Producer
7.2
7.2
The Impossible Voyage
1904
Director
7.2
7.2
The Four Troublesome Heads
1898
Producer
7.0
7.0
The Magic of Méliès
1997
as Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
6.9
6.9
The Astronomer's Dream
1898
Screenplay
6.9
6.9
The Kingdom of the Fairies
1903
Director
6.9
6.9
Joan of Arc
1900
Producer
6.8
6.8
The Méliès Mystery
2021
as Self (archive footage)
6.7
6.7
The One-Man Band
1900
Producer
6.7
6.7
The Diabolic Tenant
1909
Screenplay
6.6
6.6
The Melomaniac
1903
Director
6.6
6.6
The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match
1900
Director
6.5
6.5
Going to Bed Under Difficulties
1900
Director
6.5
6.5
The Merry Frolics of Satan
1906
Director
6.5
6.5
The Black Imp
1905
Producer
6.4
6.4
Le manoir du diable
1896
Director
6.4
6.4
A Desperate Crime
1906
Director
6.3
6.3
Tunneling the English Channel
1907
Producer
6.3
6.3
An Up-to-Date Conjurer
1899
Director
6.3
6.3
The Bewitched Inn
1897
Screenplay
6.3
6.3
The Living Playing Cards
1905
Director
6.3
6.3
The Infernal Cauldron
1903
Producer
6.3
6.3
The Prince of Magicians
1901
Producer
6.2
6.2
The Untamable Whiskers
1904
Director
6.2
6.2
The Vanishing Lady
1896
Producer
6.2
6.2
The Mysterious Knight
1899
Director
6.2
6.2
The Magic Book
1900
Director
6.2
6.2
The Devil in a Convent
1899
Director
6.2
6.2
The Witch
1906
Writer
6.2
6.2
A Fantastical Meal
1900
Director
6.2
6.2
Bluebeard
1901
Director
6.2
6.2
Whimsical Illusions
1909
Screenplay
6.2
6.2
The Cook's Revenge
1900
Director
6.2
6.2
The Conquest of the Pole
1912
Director
6.2
6.2
Cinderella
1899
Producer
6.1
6.1
The Famous Box Trick
1898
Director
6.1
6.1
Extraordinary Illusions
1903
Director
6.1
6.1
The Terrible Turkish Executioner
1903
Director
6.1
6.1
The Magician
1898
Director
6.1
6.1
Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants
1902
Writer
6.1
6.1
A Soldier's Unlucky Salutation
1896
Director
6.0
6.0
The Magician's Cavern
1901
Director
6.0
6.0
The Mysterious Portrait
1899
Director
6.0
6.0
El hombre que quiso ser Segundo
2014
as Self (archive footage)
6.0
6.0
The Hilarious Posters
1906
Producer
6.0
6.0
A Wager Between Two Magicians, or, Jealous of Myself
1904
Director
6.0
6.0
Sure Cure for Indigestion
1902
Director
6.0
6.0
A Nightmare
1896
Producer
6.0
6.0
The Prolific Magical Egg
1902
Director
6.0
6.0
Fencing at the Joinville School
1897
Director
6.0
6.0
Boxing Match
1897
Director
6.0
6.0
An Irritable Model
1897
Director
6.0
6.0
Coronation of Their Majesties King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria
1902
Director
6.0
6.0
The Hallucinated Alchemist
1897
Director
6.0
6.0
An Extraordinary Dislocation
1901
Director
6.0
6.0
The Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen
1911
Director
5.9
5.9
The Monster
1903
Director
5.9
5.9
The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon
1907
Director
5.9
5.9
The Magic Lantern
1903
Director
5.9
5.9
The Human Fly
1902
Producer
5.9
5.9
The Pillar of Fire
1899
Producer
5.9
5.9
Ten Ladies in an Umbrella
1903
Director
5.8
5.8
Extravagant Struggles
1899
Director
5.8
5.8
Rip's Dream
1905
Producer
5.8
5.8
The Temptation of St. Anthony
1898
Director
5.8
5.8
The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head
1900
Director
5.8
5.8
Hat of Many Surprises
1901
Director
5.8
5.8
The Knight of the Snow
1912
Director
5.8
5.8
Faust in the Underworld
1903
Director
5.8
5.8
An Impossible Balancing Feat
1902
Director
5.8
5.8
A Spiritualist Photographer
1903
Director
5.8
5.8
Addition and Subtraction
1900
Director
5.8
5.8
The Spider and the Butterfly
1909
Director
5.8
5.8
The Inn Where No Man Rests
1903
Director
5.7
5.7
The Mermaid
1904
Director
5.7
5.7
Le château hanté
1897
Screenplay
5.7
5.7
Up-to-Date Spiritualism
1900
Director
5.7
5.7
The Dwarf and the Giant
1901
Director
5.7
5.7
Tit for Tat
1904
Director
5.7
5.7
A Roadside Inn
1906
Director
5.7
5.7
The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
1905
Producer
5.7
5.7
Grandmother's Tale and Child's Dream
1908
Director
5.7
5.7
The Scheming Gambler's Paradise
1905
Director
5.7
5.7
Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine"
1898
Director
5.6
5.6
The Infernal Cake-Walk
1903
Director
5.6
5.6
The Palace of the Arabian Nights
1905
Director
5.6
5.6
An Adventurous Automobile Trip
1905
Director
5.6
5.6
Cinderella or The Glass Slipper
1912
Director
5.6
5.6
A Miracle Under the Inquisition
1904
Director
5.6
5.6
The Rajah's Dream or The Bewitched Wood
1900
Director
5.6
5.6
Adventures of William Tell
1898
Director
5.6
5.6
How He Missed His Train
1900
Director
5.5
5.5
The Diabolical Church Window
1911
Director
5.5
5.5
Ulysses and the Giant Polyphemus
1905
Director
5.5
5.5
Robinson Crusoe
1902
Producer
5.5
5.5
The Christmas Angel
1904
Producer
5.5
5.5
The Brahmin and the Butterfly
1901
Director
5.5
5.5
The Ballet Master's Dream
1903
Director
5.5
5.5
Delirium in a Studio
1907
Director
5.5
5.5
Satan in Prison
1907
Director
5.5
5.5
Misfortune Never Comes Alone
1903
Director
5.5
5.5
The Mysterious Box
1903
Director
5.5
5.5
The Mysterious Retort
1906
Director
5.5
5.5
The Christmas Dream
1900
Director
5.5
5.5
Tribulations; or, The Misfortunes of a Cobbler
1908
Director
5.5
5.5
The Skipping Cheese
1907
Director
5.5
5.5
The Microscopic Dancer
1902
Director
5.5
5.5
The Attempt Against the Life of Maitre Labori
1899
Director
5.5
5.5
Mishaps of the New York-Paris Auto Race
1908
Director
5.5
5.5
The Enchanted Well
1903
Director
5.5
5.5
The Dreyfus Affair
1899
Director
5.4
5.4
The Oracle of Delphi
1903
Director
5.4
5.4
Apparitions
1903
Director
5.4
5.4
The Fight of Reporters
1899
Director
5.4
5.4
The Doctor and the Monkey
1900
Director
5.4
5.4
The Dream of an Opium Fiend
1908
Director
5.4
5.4
Between Calais and Dover
1897
Director
5.3
5.3
The Indian Sorcerer
1908
Director
5.3
5.3
The Devil and the Statue
1901
Director
5.3
5.3
Panorama from Top of a Moving Train
1898
Director
5.3
5.3
Eight Girls in a Barrel
1900
Director
5.3
5.3
A Crazy Composer
1905
Director
5.3
5.3
The Terrible Eruption of Mount Pelee and Destruction of St. Pierre, Martinique
1902
Director
5.2
5.2
Conjuring
1896
Director
5.2
5.2
Post No Bills
1896
Director
5.2
5.2
Long Distance Wireless Photography
1908
Director
5.2
5.2
The Treasures of Satan
1902
Director
5.2
5.2
The Triple Headed Lady
1901
Director
5.2
5.2
The Human Pyramid
1899
Director
5.2
5.2
Summoning the Spirits
1899
Director
5.2
5.2
Naval Combat in Greece
1897
Director
5.2
5.2
The Doctor's Secret
1909
Director
5.2
5.2
The Cook in Trouble
1904
Director
5.2
5.2
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1907
Director
5.2
5.2
A Moonlight Serenade
1903
Director
5.2
5.2
Jupiter's Thunderballs
1903
Director
5.2
5.2
Soap Bubbles
1906
Director
5.2
5.2
The Bachelor's Paradise
1901
Director
5.2
5.2
Pharmaceutical Hallucinations
1908
Director
5.2
5.2
A Serpentine Dance
1896
Director
5.2
5.2
Rogues' Tricks
1907
Director
5.2
5.2
Off to Bedlam
1901
Director
5.1
5.1
A Terrible Night
1896
Writer
5.1
5.1
A Mesmerian Experiment
1905
Director
5.1
5.1
The Wonderful Living Fan
1904
Director
5.1
5.1
The Wizard, the Prince and the Good Fairy
1900
Director
5.1
5.1
Sightseeing Through Whisky
1907
Director
5.1
5.1
Dreyfus Put in Irons
1899
Director
5.1
5.1
Dreyfus Meets His Wife at Rennes
1899
Director
5.1
5.1
Devil's Island - Within the Palisade
1899
Director
5.1
5.1
A Mix-Up in the Gallery
1906
Director
5.1
5.1
On the Roof
1897
Director
5.1
5.1
The Last Cartridges
1897
Director
5.1
5.1
Landing of Dreyfus at Quiberon
1899
Director
5.1
5.1
After the Ball
1897
Director
5.0
5.0
Alcofribas, The Master Magician
1903
Screenplay
5.0
5.0
The Clockmaker's Dream
1904
Director
5.0
5.0
The New Lord of the Village
1908
Director
5.0
5.0
The Wonderful Rose Tree
1904
Director
5.0
5.0
The Witch's Revenge
1903
Director
5.0
5.0
The Good Shepherdess and the Evil Princess
1908
Director
5.0
5.0
Watering the Flowers
1896
Director
5.0
5.0
The Surrender of Tournavos
1897
Director
5.0
5.0
The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
1906
Director
5.0
5.0
What Is Home Without the Boarder
1900
Director
5.0
5.0
Dreyfus Leaving the Lycée for Jail
1899
Director
5.0
5.0
Robert Macaire and Bertrand
1906
Director
5.0
5.0
Les miracles du Brahmine
1900
Director
4.9
4.9
Good Glue Sticks
1907
Director
4.9
4.9
The King and the Jester
1907
Director
4.9
4.9
Playing Cards
1896
Writer
4.9
4.9
The Luny Musician
1906
Director
4.9
4.9
The Enchanted Sedan Chair
1905
Director
4.9
4.9
Suicide of Colonel Henry
1899
Director
4.9
4.9
The Magician and the Imp
1902
Director
4.9
4.9
Faust and Marguerite
1904
Director
4.9
4.9
The Genii of Fire
1908
Director
4.9
4.9
His First Job
1908
Director
4.9
4.9
The Imperceptible Transmutations
1904
Director
4.9
4.9
The Damnation of Faust
1898
Director
4.9
4.9
Arrival of a Train (Joinville Station)
1896
Director
4.8
4.8
The Fugitive Apparitions
1904
Director
4.8
4.8
Pygmalion and Galatea
1898
Director
4.8
4.8
Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer
1904
Director
4.8
4.8
The Mystical Flame
1903
Director
4.8
4.8
D. Devant, Conjurer
1897
Director
4.8
4.8
The Knight of Black Art
1907
Director
4.8
4.8
Comical Conjuring
1903
Director
4.8
4.8
Jack the Chimney Sweep
1906
Director
4.8
4.8
In the Bogie Man's Cave
1907
Director
4.8
4.8
The Miser
1908
Director
4.7
4.7
The Marvellous Wreath
1903
Director
4.7
4.7
Dreyfus Court Martial - Arrest Of Dreyfus
1899
Director
4.7
4.7
The Court Martial at Rennes
1899
Director
4.7
4.7
Miss de Vère - English Jig
1896
Director
4.6
4.6
Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid
1903
Director
4.6
4.6
French Cops Learning English
1908
Director
4.6
4.6
The Wandering Jew
1904
Director
4.6
4.6
Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter
1904
Director
4.6
4.6
The Coronation of Edward VII
1902
Director
4.6
4.6
A Tricky Painter’s Fate
1908
Director
4.5
4.5
In the Barber Shop
1908
Director
4.5
4.5
The Devilish Plank
1904
Director
4.5
4.5
Cinematógrafo 1900
1979
as Self (archive footage)
4.5
4.5
The Artist and the Dummy
1900
Director
4.5
4.5
The Firefall
1904
Director
4.5
4.5
The Colonel's Shower Bath
1902
Director
4.5
4.5
Les malheurs d'un photographe
1908
Director
4.5
4.5
The Drawing Lesson
1903
Director
4.4
4.4
The Lilliputian Minuet
1905
Director
4.4
4.4
The Broken Violin
1908
Director
4.4
4.4
The Magic Dice
1905
Director
4.3
4.3
The Good Luck of a 'Souse'
1907
Director
4.3
4.3
L'acteur en retard
1908
Director
4.3
4.3
The Misfortunes of an Explorer
1900
Director
4.3
4.3
Justinian's Human Torches
1908
Director
4.3
4.3
How Bridget's Lover Escaped
1907
Director
4.3
4.3
The Prophetess of Thebes
1908
Director
4.3
4.3
Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds
1896
Director
4.2
4.2
Little Red Riding Hood
1901
Director
4.2
4.2
Fantastic Dining Room
1899
Director
4.2
4.2
The Bewitched Trunk
1904
Director
4.2
4.2
The Voyage of M. Bourrichon
1913
Director
4.1
4.1
Jack Jags and Dum Dum
1903
Director
4.1
4.1
Sideshow Wrestlers
1908
Director
4.0
4.0
Not Guilty
1908
Director
4.0
4.0
The Bridegroom's Dilemma
1898
Director
4.0
4.0
A Terrible Night (Remake)
1897
Director
4.0
4.0
A Woman Surprised
1898
Director
4.0
4.0
Visite de l'épave du Maine
1898
Director
4.0
4.0
Arrival of a Train at Vincennes Station
1896
Director
3.9
3.9
Faust and Marguerite
1897
Director
3.9
3.9
An Improvised Fireworks Display
1905
Director
3.8
3.8
Punch and Judy
1906
Director
3.7
3.7
Les infortunes des patineurs
1908
Director
3.7
3.7
The Devil's Laboratory
1897
Director
3.5
3.5
A Midnight Episode
1899
Producer
3.5
3.5
Les tribulations d'un concierge
1896
Director
3.3
3.3
Marvelous Suspension
1902
Director
3.2
3.2
Buncoed Stage Johnnie
1908
Director
3.0
3.0
The Clown and Automobile
1899
Director
2.0
2.0
Humanity Through the Ages
1908
Director
2.0
2.0
The Cave of the Demons
1898
Director
1.8
1.8
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
1907
Director
1.7
1.7
Cleopatra's Tomb
1899
Director
1.0
1.0
Le conférencier distrait
1899
Director
1.0
1.0
Gugusse and the Automaton
1897
Director
1.0
1.0
Lightning Change Artist
1899
Director
1.0
1.0
The Grasshopper and the Ant
1897
Director
1.0
1.0
Carrefour de l'opéra
1898
Director
1.0
1.0
Murder Will Out
1899
Director
1.0
1.0
Christ Walking on Water
1899
Director
Méliès: Tales of Terror
2021
Director
Gala Méliès
1929
Director
A Maiden's Paradise
1901
Director
The Temple of the Sun
1901
Director
Alcoléa & cie Documentary
2024
The Fortune Favors the Brave
1908
Director
The Enchanted Basket
1903
Director
Beelzebub's Daughters
1903
Director
A Trip to the Melisverse
2023
as Archivo de imagen
Violons d'Ingres
1939
as Himself (archive footage)
Dancing in a Harem
1897
Director
A Funny Mahometan
1897
Director
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
2012
as Self (archive footage)
A Lover's Hazing
TBA
Director
A Fake Diamond Swindler
1908
Director
Curiosity Punished
1908
Director
Pranks With a Fake Python
1908
Director
Up-to-Date Clothes Cleaning
1908
Director
Hunting the Teddy Bear
1908
Director
The Little Peace Maker
1908
Director
A Love Tragedy in Spain
1908
Director
The Magic of Catchy Songs
1908
Director
The Forester's Remedy
1908
Director
Two Crazy Bugs
1908
Director
The Hotel Mix-Up
1908
Director
Oriental Black Art
1908
Director
Two Talented Vagabonds
1908
Director
Fun With the Bridal Party
1908
Director
The Helping Hand
1908
Director
The Old Footlight Favorite
1908
Director
The Wonderful Charm
1908
Director
Le Théâtreux joué
1908
Director
Honeymoon in a Balloon
1908
Director
Incident from Don Quixote
1908
Director
The Duke's Good Joke
1908
Director
The Fairy Dragonfly
1908
Director
Moitié de polka
1908
Director
Hypnotist's Revenge
1908
Director
The Living Doll
1908
Director
The Mystery of the Garrison
1908
Director
The Two Blind Men
1900
Director
A Novice at X-Rays
1898
Director
L'homme aux cent trucs
1900
Director
The Catastrophe of the Balloon "Le Pax"
1902
Director
Cabinet Trick of the Davenport Brothers
1902
Director
Benvenuto Cellini or A Curious Evasion
1904
Director
The Mischances of a Drunkard
1904
Director
L'agent gelé
1908
Director
Crying and Laughing
1900
Director
The Degradation of Dreyfus
1899
Director
Guerre de Cuba et l'explosion du Maine à La Havane