"Illusions fantasmagoriques" or "Fantasmagorical Illusions" or "The Famous Box Trick" is a silent black-and-white short film from the end of the 19th century. Lack of sound and color should surprise nobody looking at how this is from 1898. And if you read the French title, you will probably (hopefully) know immediately that this is another work by the very prolific and successful French filmmaking pioneer Georges Méliès. Like so many of his other works, this one here is also really short, only runs for approximately 70 seconds and shows us the master himself with a little magic performance, in which he makes children appear and lets the disappear again. I have seen some of his works and I must say this one here is not too interesting or relevant. It isn't bad and a bearable watch at such a short runtime, but really only worth checking out for huge silent film enthusiasts. Everybody else can skip it.
Review of The Famous Box Trick
