Before I discuss this film, I want to straighten out the confusion about this movie's identity. According to most people online, Méliès made two haunted castle movies: a black-and-white, three- minute short from 1896, and a hand-colored, one-minute movie released a year later. However, other sources argue that this hand-colored movie (the one I'm reviewing here) is actually a G. A. Smith film from the same year, intended as a ripoff of Méliès's original 1896 short. I find this second claim doubtful, because the set design appears to be almost the same as the earlier film (it was probably reused), and the costumes also appear to be identical. Méliès once again appears in his role as the lord/nobleman, Mephistopheles shows up too (although I'm not sure if he's played by Jules-Eugene Legris like in the original) and even the cowardly cavalier from before makes a brief appearance at the 'beginning'--the start and end occur while movement is still going on in frame, so it's possible some is missing at both spots. I find it hard to believe Smith could really imitate the whole visual look with such accuracy. Further, Wikipedia's article for the Smith film (there was indeed a Smith haunted castle movie) says Laura Bayley, his wife, plays a main role, which isn't apparent here (although it's possible she could be one of the ghosts). Based on this evidence, I am positive that the Smith short is now lost and the Méliès film is now surviving.
Despite being very similar to the other, earlier film, the action in "The Haunted Castle" (this film, not the original which was also released under the same title) is very different. In this film, as opposed to the previous effort, the skeleton actually can stand up and move using wires--it's still obviously only a puppet, but this works much better than the motionless skeleton in the 1896 film. The familiar gag with the moving chairs occurs like before, as well as a slightly haunting appearance of a ghost. It's really just a lot of transformation gags occurring constantly within its brief running time, but it is gags like these that Méliès used later in his haunted hotel shorts to the same effect. His performance as the cavalier is, as always, funny and energetic.
The hand-color is very well done also. Méliès's films were often colorized through the studios of Elisabeth Thuillier (who presumably did the colored copy of "A Trip to the Moon" which you see today) and this film was the first. While much of it is just shaded brown, Méliès's outfit is a brilliant red, which sticks out and looks very colorful. In the end, only really a condensed version of the other movie, (albeit with a closer camera placement) but a pleasant diversion which holds your attention for the forty-five seconds it runs.
Despite being very similar to the other, earlier film, the action in "The Haunted Castle" (this film, not the original which was also released under the same title) is very different. In this film, as opposed to the previous effort, the skeleton actually can stand up and move using wires--it's still obviously only a puppet, but this works much better than the motionless skeleton in the 1896 film. The familiar gag with the moving chairs occurs like before, as well as a slightly haunting appearance of a ghost. It's really just a lot of transformation gags occurring constantly within its brief running time, but it is gags like these that Méliès used later in his haunted hotel shorts to the same effect. His performance as the cavalier is, as always, funny and energetic.
The hand-color is very well done also. Méliès's films were often colorized through the studios of Elisabeth Thuillier (who presumably did the colored copy of "A Trip to the Moon" which you see today) and this film was the first. While much of it is just shaded brown, Méliès's outfit is a brilliant red, which sticks out and looks very colorful. In the end, only really a condensed version of the other movie, (albeit with a closer camera placement) but a pleasant diversion which holds your attention for the forty-five seconds it runs.