Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination Georges Méliès’s Trip to the Moon (cid:118) Edited by Matthew Solomon Cover: G. Méliès, “L’arrivée de l’obus dans la Lune,” Le Nouvel Art cinématographique, 2d series, no. 5 (January 1930): 82. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2011 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Eileen Meehan Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fantastic voyages of the cinematic imagination : Georges Méliès's Trip to the moon / edited by Matthew Solomon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3581-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4384-3580-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Trip to the moon (Motion picture) 2. Méliès, Georges, 1861–1938— Criticism and interpretation. I. Solomon, Matthew. PN1997.T693F36 2011 791.43'72—dc22 2010025994 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Charlie (cid:118) “A Trip to the Movies: Georges Méliès, Filmmaker and Magician (1861– 1938)” by Paolo Cherchi Usai was first published in Image 34, nos. 3–4 (1991): 2–11. Reprinted with permission of the George Eastman House. “Theatricality, Narrativity, and Trickality: Reevaluating the Cinema of Georges Méliès” by André Gaudreault was first published in English in the Journal of Film and Television 15, no. 3 (1987): 110–119. Revised version published with permission of Heldref Publications and Taylor & Francis. “A Trip to the Moon: A Composite Film” by Thierry Lefebvre was originally published in French as “Le Voyage dans la lune, film composite,” in Méliès, magie et cinéma, ed. Jacques Malthête and Laurent Mannoni (Paris-Musées, 2002), 171–192. It is published in English translation here with permission of the author. Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction Matthew Solomon 1 1. A Trip to the Movies: Georges Méliès, Filmmaker and Magician (1861–1938) 25 Paolo Cherchi Usai 2. Theatricality, Narrativity, and Trickality: Reevaluating the Cinema of Georges Méliès 31 André Gaudreault 3. A Trip to the Moon: A Composite Film 49 Thierry Lefebvre 4. First-Footing on the Moon: Méliès’s Debt to Verne and Wells and His Influence in Great Britain 65 Ian Christie 5. “Distance Does Not Exist”: Méliès, le Cinéma, and the Moon 81 Murray Pomerance 6. Shooting into Outer Space: Reframing Modern Vision 97 Tom Gunning 7. A Trip to the Moon as Féerie 115 Frank Kessler vii viii Contents 8. A Trip to the Moon as an American Phenomenon 129 Richard Abel 9. A Trip to the Fair; or, Moon-Walking in Space 143 Matthew Solomon 10. The Stars Might Be Smiling: A Feminist Forage into a Famous Film 161 Victoria Duckett 11. Impossible Voyages and Extraordinary Adventures in Early Science Fiction Cinema: From Robida to Méliès and Marcel Fabre 183 Antonio Costa 12. No One-Way Ticket to the Moon 201 Viva Paci Appendix 225 A Fantastical...Trip to the Moon 227 Georges Méliès, “Answer to Questionary [sic]” 233 Georges Méliès, “The Marvelous in the Cinema” 235 Georges Méliès, “The Importance of the Script” 241 List of Contributors 245 Index 251 Illustrations Figure 0-1. One of a number of substitution splices in A Trip to the Moon 7 Figure 0-2. A Trip to the Moon—the captured Selenite displayed for the crowd 9 Figure 0-3. Detail of caricature by Méliès [pseud., Geo. Smile], La Griffe, January 23, 1890 10 Figure 0-4. A Trip to the Moon (detail)—the statue of Barbenfouillis 11 Figure 0-5. Excursion dans la lune (1908) 13 Figure 2-1. A Trip to the Moon—On the moon 39 Figure 2-2. A Trip to the Moon—In space 40 Figure 2-3. A Trip to the Moon—Above the ocean 40 Figure 2-4. A Trip to the Moon—At the bottom of the sea 41 Figure 2-5. Fairyland—Diagram of the various camera positions, tableaux 23–29 43 Figure 3-1. Half of a stereoscope card, Le Voyage dans la lune— “Le Canon” (Collection Cinémathèque française) 56 Figure 3-2. Stereoscope card, Le Voyage dans la lune—“Le Roi Cosmos” (Collection Cinémathèque française) 57 Figure 5-1. A Trip to the Moon—drawings of earth and moon; moon in distance 80 Figure 8-1. A Trip to the Moon, Pan-American Exposition, 1900 131 ix x Illustrations Figure 8-2. A Trip to the Moon (inside attraction), 1901 133 Figure 8-3. Advertisements,New York Clipper, October 4, 1902 137 Figure 9-1. Plan of the grounds of the Paris Universal Exposition,New York Times, April 8, 1900 145 Figure 9-2. The Moving Sidewalk, or Mobile Platform, at the Universal Exposition, Harper’s Monthly Magazine, September 1900 153 Figure 10-1. A Trip to the Moon—The Big Dipper 160 Figure 10-2. A Trip to the Moon—Phoebe, Gemini, and Saturn 172 Figure 11-1. Le avventure straordinarissime di Saturnino Farandola (1913) 182 Figure 11-2. The Conquest of the Pole (1912) 189 Figure 12-1. Ziegfeld Girl (1941) 207 Figure 12-2. Outtake,Moulin Rouge! (2001) 212 Figure 12-3. Rabbit’s Moon (1950) 213 Acknowledgments My greatest thanks go to the contributors who made this volume possible. Each responded with great erudition, insight, and creativity, and I am grateful for all their hard work in this collaborative effort. I am especially grateful to Murray Pomerance, who has shown great enthusiasm for this project from the very beginning when I first discussed it with him in Montreal in November 2006. I offer a special thanks to Paul Hammond, who generously agreed to participate in this volume by translating two essays by Méliès into English. I am extremely grateful to Dean Francisco Soto and the Office of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, which provided invaluable support for this project in the initial form of a CSI Summer Research Award that allowed me to examine Méliès material at the Bibliothèque du film in Paris and the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique in Brussels. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript and to acknowledge the support of James Peltz of SUNY Press. Serge Bromberg, Jacques Malthête, and David Shepard graciously answered my questions about different versions of A Trip to the Moon and Joseph Eckhardt, Frank Kessler, Martin Marks, Luke McKernan, and Mary Elizabeth Ruwell helped me to obtain copies of several hard- to-find documents. Liza Zusman’s diligent research in London and New York turned up many useful articles and letters. Others who helped in various ways were Janet Bergstrom, Nico de Klerk, Paul Falzone, Emma Furderer, Jane Gaines, Doreen Gambichler, Magali Gaudin, Oliver Gaycken, Jaclyn Genega, Charlie Johnston, Giancarlo Lombardi, Jeffrey Man, Laurent Mannoni, Martin Marks, David Mayer, Charles Musser, James Naremore, Adrian Ramos- Rocchio, Régis Robert, Donald Sosin, Paul Spehr, Alexa Davidson Suskin, Christoph Wahl, Watie White, and Eve Wolf. The process of reprinting previously published essays was generously facilitated by Amy xi