All language subtitles for le.grand.melies.1952.bdrip.x264-bipolar

An Homage to
GEORGE MÉLIÈS (1861-1938)

Artistic Director
of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin

Artist, Actor,
Set Designer, Director

Innovator
of Modern Special Effects

Creator
of Cinematic Entertainment

Featuring
MADAME GEORGE MÉLIÈS

and ANDRÉ MÉLIÈS
in the Role of His Father

In this building, home to a few
retired film professionals,

my grandfather, Georges Méliès,
spent his final days.

G. MÉLIÈS
2ND FLOOR

Madame Georges Méliès,
my grandmother.

“Vivons heureux,”

a waltz my grandfather
composed for her

a long time ago.

“Far from the crowds,
my lovely

Let me see myself
in your eyes

Ardent is my love

What matters
are the crazy things we devise

Let's forget life's troubles

Think of them no more

Far from the crowds,
my lovely

Let us live happily evermore”

Mismatched mementos
of a once-renowned life

that was filled
with kindness and generosity

and that shouldn't
have ended this way.

Magician and groundbreaking
force in cinema,

Georges Méliès,
forgotten after the Great War,

resurfaced in 1928
at the Montparnasse train station,

where he had a toy shop.

The creation of several thousand
poetic and magical films

had swallowed up all his wealth

except for his most precious
assets that he saved

from unscrupulous businessmen:

his love of children,
and his fondness for illusions,

which reminded him of magical evenings
at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin.

He enjoyed practicing
his illusionist's tricks.

He'd steal coin purses,

but he always gave them back,

with plenty of candy
to ease the shock.

FORTY YEARS EARLIER

AT THE THÉÂTRE ROBERT-HOUDIN...

Ladies and gentlemen,
you have the honor of applauding...

in his show
of phantasmagorical illusions,

Mr. Méliès!

Act one:

prestidigitation, sleight of hand,

streamers, and flying pigeons!

Act two:

in the crystal ball,
a crowned head's past and future.

And now, some images
whose artistic quality

and historical value
you will appreciate.

Masers de Latude, for offending
Mme de Pompadour, spent 35 years

in the cells of Charenton,
Vincennes, the Bastille, and Châtelet.

Take him away!

These drawings,
projected from behind the screen,

were the first steps
toward the cinematic entertainment

that Georges Méliès
would create.

Napoleon, at the pyramids,
to a deaf and dying grenadier:

“Soldier, I'm proud of you!”

No answer.

Abdelkader surrenders
to General de Lamoricière,

and we get a glimpse
of the fool's errand...

that began in 1847

and continues today.

The gendarme is a figure
of little importance,

but he always has
the last word.

One evening in 1895,

strolling along the boulevard -
a favorite pastime for a Parisian -

Méliès stopped
before a poster

advertising a demonstration
of the Lumière Cinématographe.

Sensing a special event,
he entered the Grand Café

where Louis Lumière was showing
the first films shot with his invention.

Méliès glimpsed the possibilities
of the Cinématographe

in short, simple films like

L'Arroseur arrosé,
L'Arrivée d'un train,

Les mauvaises fréquentations,
and so on.

After the show,

Méliès and Lumière
had the following conversation:

“It's extraordinary, Mr. Lumière.”

“Mr. Méliès,
it's a mere scientific curiosity.”

“I'd love to buy
one of your machines.”

“My invention's not for sale.”

"I'll give you 10,000 francs.”

“Why bother, Mr. Méliès?”

“Twenty thousand francs.”

“I don't wish to ruin you,
Mr. Méliès.

The Cinématographe
has no commercial future.”

"No future?

It brings the whole world
within reach!”

But Lumière
was not to be swayed.

A few months later,
Méliès managed to develop

his own camera.

That very day,

he “cinématographed”
in his garden a magic trick

from the Théâtre Robert-Houdin:
making a woman disappear.

He made sure to conceal

the trick part of the set
from the viewer.

But the weather
didn't always cooperate...

Anxious to work year-round
yet be protected from the weather,

Méliès created
the world's first film studio.

Here we see Cinderella's castle.

The princess's boudoir.

To allow his scenes to expand
beyond the limits of the stage,

Méliès used scrolling backgrounds
behind his actors and objects.

This balloon soars through the sky
thanks to a special mechanism

perfect for celestial voyages
and apotheoses.

The background could be moved
both horizontally and vertically.

Méliès's artistic expression
was still rooted in the theater.

Shooting at Place de l'Opéra,
a problem with the camera

led to an important discovery
for the future of cinema:

the substitution shot.

However, the footage involved
has been lost.

But in 1901, in
The Man With the Rubber Head,

Méliès combines studio effects

with his new system of masks
and black backdrops.

This technique allows him
to present in one image

two or more shots

filmed separately.

First shot:

The cart moves
toward the camera,

making Méliès's head
appear to grow larger...

while the solid black background

eliminates
any sense of movement.

The second shot is of the set
surrounding the black backdrop

and shows Méliès
inflating his own head.

SCORE FOR
THE MUSIC LOVER

Screened
at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin,

The Music Lover is
an unmatched technical triumph

in the service
of pure imagination.

THE MUSIC LOVER
Presented by Mr. MÉLIÈS

Though he gave cinema
all its basic special effects,

Méliès didn't always reveal
the technical secrets of his black backgrounds,

perhaps to protect
the charm of his creations.

C - C - D - B - C - D

D - C - B - C

THE FOLLOWING YEAR
AT THE FOIRE DU TRÔNE CARNIVAL

A Trip to the Moon.
Step fight up!

THE ARIZONA SIDEWINDER

SHOOTING GALLERY

Right this way, ladies and gents!

NEW! SENSATIONAL!
A TRIP TO THE MOON

Despite
the loudmouthed barker

and eye-catching poster,

the public was skeptical.

“Is this Méliès
some kind of charlatan?

How could he have
filmed on the moon?”

They didn't yet realize

that the director of
A Trip to the Moon

was endowed
with such daring imagination

that, by means of
ingenious special effects,

he kept his promise -
later his slogan -

of “The Whole World
Within Reach.”

Méliès showed the film for free.

The carnival vendor
had refused to buy a magical film

of a completely new genre

whose success was,
in his opinion, uncertain.

The young officer is me.

I had the honor of commanding
the 1st Screen Girl Battalion.

These images obtained
by double exposure,

substitution shots,
and moving sets

enchanted the public.

And the carnival vendor
revised his opinion.

Ladies and gents,
come see A Trip to the Moon!

This 1902 screening

would ensure Méliès's fame

yet also set the stage
for his downfall.

Innovator, poet,

and mediocre businessman,

Méliès would create
the celestial carriage ride

in The 400 Tricks of the Devil.

This masterpiece,
like A Trip to the Moon,a

was widely copied
in France and abroad.

Exploited by imitators...

and finished off by the war,

Méliès the Great,

perhaps in a moment
of rage and exasperation,

threw most of his treasures
into the fire,

the final tragic farce

from the world's first filmmaker.

Grandmother is now 89.

Sometimes she returns
to the Montparnasse train station

where Georges Méliès
had his toy store.

It's as if he turned his magician's
hoops and paper flowers

into a gorgeous display

of real flowers.

For 15 years now

he's rested in peace
at Père Lachaise cemetery,

he who never liked cemeteries.

He found them rather macabre.

He said they didn't suit
his fanciful

and always kindly disposition.

But he loved flowers so!