{Le voyage dans la lune}
 [CSW Note]: Although the Georges Méliès character in the (3D) movie Hugo is fictional, the character is based on the real life movie producer Georges Méliès who in later life really did work in a train station selling toys. ...the gorgeous restoration of [Melies'] masterpiece A Trip to the Moon was surely a cinematic highlight of the year, maybe the century... --A.O. Scott - The New York Times, Dec. 18, 2011 A group of men travel to the moon by being shot in a capsule from a giant cannon. They are captured by moon-men, escape, and return to the earth. This film, A Trip to the Moon Restored (Limited Edition, Steelbook) [Blu-ray], had not been seen in a color version in over 100 years. For anyone not familiar with it, it is one of the seminal motion pictures and it was, at the time it was produced, one of the longest films yet made (about 13 minutes) and it was certainly one of the most elaborate. Most people have seen the iconic image of the moon being struck in the 'eye' by the rocket and many people have seen the entire film - but never like this! In addition to the color, much more of the left side of the image is now visible and there are one or two additional scenes which appear in no other edition. How did they get color in 1902? Each color release print was hand-painted frame by frame! Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films restored this film along with Tom Burton of Technicolor Restoration Services who handled the 'nitty-gritty' work in preparing the film for exhibition. No original hand-colored copies of A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune - 1902), by Georges Méliès, had been known to survive until one was miraculously found in Spain in the mid-1990s, but in a fragmentary condition thought too fragile to handle for either viewing or restoration. In 2010, three experts in worldwide film restoration - Lobster Films, and two non-profit entities, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage - launched one of the most complex and ambitious film restoration projects ever to bring an original, colored version of Méliès masterpiece back 110 years after its first release. Using the most advanced digital technologies now available, the team reassembled and restored the fragments of the 13,375 frames. The two foundations, which carried out specifically the music part of this project, decided to approach AIR s Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel, to compose an original modern soundtrack to accompany this cinematic milestone. Packaged in a limited-edition, SteelBookTM case, this publication also features The Extraordinary Voyage, a fascinating new documentary, directed by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange, which chronicles the journey of A Trip to the Moon from the fantastical Méliès production in 1902, to the astonishing rediscovery of a nitrate print in color in 1993, to the premiere of the new restoration on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. The documentary includes interviews with contemporary filmmakers, including Costa Gavras, Michel Gondry, Michel Hazanavicius, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet on Méliès enduring significance to cinema. Storyline: A group of men travel to the moon by being shot in a capsule from a giant cannon. They are captured by moon-men, escape, and return to the earth. Written by John Oswalt Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov on April 20, 2012 -- Recently restored and screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Georges Melies' "Le voyage dans la lune" a.k.a "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Flicker Alley. The supplemental features on the disc include an interview with the French band Air; Georges Melies' films "The Astronomer's Dream" (1898) and "The Eclipse or The Courtship of the Sun and the Moon" (1907); Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange's documentary film "The Extraordinary Voyage" (2011); multiple music scores; and more. The Blu-ray release also arrives with a 24-page illustrated booklet featuring an excerpt from Gilles Duval and Severine Wemaere's "A Trip to the Moon Back in Color" and notes on the restoration of the film. Region-A "locked". It may sound cliché at this point but I believe that it is well worth repeating it: There has never been a better time to collect films. And I am convinced that once you see Flicker Alley's beautiful new release of Georges Melies' legendary A Trip to the Moon (1902), you will wholeheartedly agree with me. The newly restored hand-colored version of A Trip to the Moon has a fascinating history. In 1993, while researching the work of a Spanish director from the silent era, French film archivists learned that Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona had an original hand-colored copy of Melies' film, which their Spanish colleagues were willing to trade. (Until then it was universally believed that such original copies no longer existed). The copy was sent to France in 1999, but a quick analysis immediately revealed that it had deteriorated so much that it was impossible to use for viewing or restoration. Seriously frustrated, the French archivists decided to wait for technology to advance before they begin experimenting with the film. In 2010, three parties – Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage – joined forces and launched one of the most ambitious restoration projects ever. According to the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema official site, 13,375 frames had to be carefully restored, one by one. Then, after hundreds of hours of discussions, the restorers began reassembling Melies' film in Technicolor Creative Services in Los Angeles. Under the supervision of Tom Burton, and using multiple sources to compare and rebuild missing or seriously damaged parts, such as a black and white original nitrate print owned by the Melies family and a positive print kept in the vaults of Centre National du Cinema (CNC), the restorers were able to bring back to life a truly magical film which captivated the imagination of people 100 years ago. After the restoration was completed, French ambient rockers Air were commissioned to compose a soundtrack for A Trip to the Moon. In 2011, the fully restored hand-colored version of A Trip to the Moon with the new soundtrack by Air premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The restored hand-colored version of A Trip to the Moon looks magnificent. I saw the film just a few hours ago and to say that I was utterly overwhelmed by it would be the understatement of the year. You will realize why once you also view the film and then see the terrific documentary included on this release where pieces of the damaged negatives that were discovered in Filmoteca de Catalunya are shown. It really is quite unbelievable to see what the restorers had done with them. The film itself is approximately 15 minutes long and it is truly impossible to describe with simple words. It has spectacular sets and special effects which one cannot but admire. It is also surprisingly fluid, forcing one to immediately wonder how some of the more complex shots were done. The narrative is also quite fascinating, especially considering the fact that Melies was essentially able to accurately imagine the Moon's surface as well as the landing technique that will be used in the future. Absolutely fascinating. A B&W version of A Trip to the Moon, sourced from a fine-grain master derived from a nitrate print made available by the Melies family, is also included. This version of the film can be seen with three separate audio tracks: an orchestral score by Robert Israel with an original spoken English narration written by Melies, a troupe of actors voicing the various characters as performed in the U.S. in 1903 with piano accompaniment by Frederick Hodges, and a separate piano accompaniment by Frederick Hodges. (Note: The B&W version of the film is approximately 13 minutes long). Flicker Alley's Blu-ray release of Georges Melies' legendary film A Trip to the Moon is, hands down, the most incredible release to reach my desk since the high-definition format was launched. It is remarkable to see what Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, the parties responsible for the film's restoration, have been able to accomplish. Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange's documentary film The Extraordinary Voyage is just as fascinating. This release belongs in every film collection. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Cast Notes: Victor André ([uncredited]), Bleuette Bernon (Lady in the Moon [uncredited]), Brunnet (Astronomer [uncredited]), Jeanne d'Alcy ([uncredited]), Henri Delannoy (Captain of the Rocket [uncredited]), Depierre ([uncredited]), Farjaut (Astronomer [uncredited]), Kelm (Astronomer [uncredited]), Georges Méliès (Prof. Barbenfouillis [uncredited]). User Comment: Brandt Sponseller from New York City, 20 April 2005 • A group of astronomers hold a meeting where they discuss how to travel to the Moon. The head astronomer proposes that they build something like a huge gun or cannon and fire themselves at the lunar face. After some argument, this is agreed upon, and we see the construction of the cannon and its bullet-like capsule. Once on the moon, the astronomers discover the strange civilization of the Selenites. A Trip to the Moon (aka Le Voyage dans la lune, Voyage to the Moon, and even A Trip to Mars, curiously enough) is usually considered the first token sci-fi film. "Token" is important there, as this surely isn't the first film we could call sci-fi--even Trip to the Moon director/writer/producer/star/production designer/etc. George Méliès' own The Astronomer's Dream, or The Man on the Moon (Le Rêve d'un astronome, 1898) predates this by four years. But this is the first widely known and accepted sci-fi film, with a significant length, and it has the important distinction of a pithy, well-told story, which Méliès based on Jules Verne's De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon), first published in 1865, and parts of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, first published in 1901. The fact that it was intended as something of a parody is often overlooked, and recontextualizes its sci-fi progenitor status quite a bit, but in a positive way. Like horror, sci-fi frequently walks a fine line between camp and seriousness, so it is appropriate for the token seminal film to have parodic elements. Far more important than A Trip to the Moon's relation to sci-fi, however, is its significance as a film, without genre qualification. Unlike most of the other early film pioneers, Méliès had a background in show business. He was a skilled magician/illusionist who took over a famed Paris venue, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Méliès embraced the theatricality of film, always searching for ways to make the new medium approximate the ideals (well, or at least the ideals of the fantasy and spectacle side) of the theater. Thus, he made rapid advances in production design, literary content, special effects and further developed an early form of editing, providing a bridge between the early shorts, which were purely mise-en-scène, to a more modern form of montage. A Trip to the Moon's scenes, with their elaborate production design, complete with backdrops painted by Méliès, are still constructed in a way similar to Thomas Edison's The Barbershop (1894), or the Lumière Brothers' Baignade en mer (1895)--that is, with complex, layered, contrapuntal motion playing out before a static camera, which represents the audience's point of view as they watch the action unfold on a "stage". The difference is that whereas Edison and Lumière tended to shoot for a feigned naturalism (in some cases--but far fewer than the conventional wisdom has it--actually capturing a "natural" event), Méliès tries to see how far he can push the fantastical. The result is a film that is as much an example of surrealism as anything else. If you have a taste for those genres--as well as for sci-fi, the absurd, and so on--as I do, and you are acclimated to silent films, you are sure to love A Trip to the Moon. The sets are amazing. The painted backdrops merge seamlessly with the constructed portions and props, creating locations with great "depth", in worlds that seem to surreal exist and have a long history. There are a number of ingenious techniques used to further the illusions, such as the smoke pouring out of the Parisian factories (probably a satirical depiction of some of the negative results of the Industrial Revolution) as the astronomers, who are initially amusingly dressed like wizards/alchemists in long flowing robes and large pointed hats, mount the building to begin their journey. Although some of the special effects and illusions are fairly transparent--such as the descending portions of scenery to enhance the effect of the "Earthrise", most are surprisingly sophisticated. Visually, Méliès is as impressive as even many modern instantiations of special effects, matte paintings and such. He certainly trumps much low-budget science fiction--even through the 1960s and 1970s--in this department, plus the surrealistic touches give him an edge that I would like to see more in modern films. Just as important, the story is very entertaining. The pacing and narrative construction sustains your interest and manages to make a short that is less than 15-minutes long seem as substantial as a 90-minute feature. Although I've seen versions in the past without it, I now have a version with the intended voice-over narration included (in Kino's "The Movies Begin" box set). This greatly enhances the film, especially as it is frequently but dryly funny. Much has been said, and maybe not just by Freudians, of the sexual subtexts of A Trip to the Moon. For example, the astronomers are assisted by Parisian showgirls, or "manservants", in sexy clothing (they now seem somewhat prescient of the costumed and uniformly choreographed showgirls to come in Hollywood musicals). They build a large gun to shoot themselves to the Moon, and they land with a "spurt" in the Moon's eye. Whether or not any of that was intended (although Freudians, at least, would say it doesn't matter if it was intended), there are more than enough comical and satirical takes on astronomers, space travel/the nature of space, and the "reality" of the Moon and its surprising inhabitants to keep anyone entertained. This is truly one of the earliest masterpieces of cinema. Summary: Early masterpiece of cinema. Summary: A special movie by the father of special effects! [CSW] -5.0- The review by Dr. Svet Atanasov, April 20, 2012, expressed my sentiments better than I could when he said "Flicker Alley's Blu-ray release of Georges Melies' legendary film A Trip to the Moon is, hands down, the most incredible release and some of the best uses of high-definition since the format was launched. It is remarkable to see what Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, the parties responsible for the film's restoration, have been able to accomplish. Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange's documentary film The Extraordinary Voyage is just as fascinating. This release belongs in every film collection. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED." IMDb Rating (06/05/12): 8.2/10 from 10,891 users IMDb Rating (04/21/12): 8.2/10 from 10,336 users
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