Because of the fact director Georges Méliès had long since discovered the dissolve and superimposition by 1900, the body of tricks in "Addition and Subtraction" are very simplistic by comparison to earlier magic shorts. Take, for instance, the fact that he'd already produced one of the first multi-scene films a year prior to this, with 1899's "Cinderella"; it seems like he was taking a break off from these more advanced features in order to play with the film editing he was known for. Nonetheless, it's the execution of the tricks that's important, and even despite its simplicity this trick short will not disappoint in how the gimmicks are handled.
Once again, Méliès appears onscreen as a magician/drunkard, (the main character's name being, at least in the french title, Tom Whisky), who wants to sit in a chair. Instead of the typical gag of the chair vanishing beneath him as is typical of Méliès, in this case women keep appearing in the chairs to thwart his attempts to sit down. In desperation, he then tries to get rid of them by merging them into a fat woman, then a little boy and finally divides them back into the three young women again, with no success whatsoever.
As stated above, the tricks are really very simple considering Méliès had already started experimenting with dismembered heads all the way back in 1898, which involved more elaborate filmmaking. Here, he uses mainly just a lot of intricate film edits, spliced together to create the illusions and to wow the audience. Yet, it should not be overlooked: they are handled very well and used for a particularly comical situation, which adds in addition to Méliès's typically energetic performance. His frenetic movement as he attempts to get rid of the women is played for hilarious effect and makes the whole movie more of a comedy than a magic film.
I also believe the ending to be missing, since the drunk is still seating the women back in the chairs when it concludes abruptly. Obviously--knowing Méliès--there was going to be some sort of grand finale, but this remains to be proven since the Star Film Catalogue does not offer any evidence to support this theory. On a side note, the set used for the background--showing the Seine river--was, I believe, reused for the director's "The Untameable Whiskers" from several years later.
Once again, Méliès appears onscreen as a magician/drunkard, (the main character's name being, at least in the french title, Tom Whisky), who wants to sit in a chair. Instead of the typical gag of the chair vanishing beneath him as is typical of Méliès, in this case women keep appearing in the chairs to thwart his attempts to sit down. In desperation, he then tries to get rid of them by merging them into a fat woman, then a little boy and finally divides them back into the three young women again, with no success whatsoever.
As stated above, the tricks are really very simple considering Méliès had already started experimenting with dismembered heads all the way back in 1898, which involved more elaborate filmmaking. Here, he uses mainly just a lot of intricate film edits, spliced together to create the illusions and to wow the audience. Yet, it should not be overlooked: they are handled very well and used for a particularly comical situation, which adds in addition to Méliès's typically energetic performance. His frenetic movement as he attempts to get rid of the women is played for hilarious effect and makes the whole movie more of a comedy than a magic film.
I also believe the ending to be missing, since the drunk is still seating the women back in the chairs when it concludes abruptly. Obviously--knowing Méliès--there was going to be some sort of grand finale, but this remains to be proven since the Star Film Catalogue does not offer any evidence to support this theory. On a side note, the set used for the background--showing the Seine river--was, I believe, reused for the director's "The Untameable Whiskers" from several years later.