Presented in association with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Programs of Méliès' films will also be presented by Mme. Malthête-Méliès at the Cinematheque of the San Francisco Art Institute and at 80 Langton Street in San Francisco.
The great French film pioneer Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was the world's first creator of magic and fantasy films. Directors from Charles Chaplin to avant-gardist Hans Richter have hailed him as their master for his brilliant achievements in comic, narrative and surrealist films. Méliès is best known for A Trip to the Moon, but his original oeuvre included some 500 films in all (of which approximately 140 are extant). Included in tonight's program are many films never before shown in this country as well as many which are being presented in color for the first time.
Introducing the program is Madeleine Malthête-Méliès, the filmmaker's granddaughter and and the author of “Méliès L'Enchanteur” (which has not yet been translated into English). Madame Malthête-Méliès was a founding member of the Cinématheque Française. In 1961 she and her husband founded an organization called The Friends of Georges Méliès with the objective of collecting and restoring Méliès' films.
Pianist Eric Leguen has toured throughout Europe and Africa with the Méliès program. Mme. Malthête-Méliès feels that the music helps to re-create an atomsphere similar to that experienced by the first film audiences at the turn of the century.
Note: The film titles are presented here first in their American distribution titles, followed by their French titles (which often differ amusingly from the English).
