A Nightmare (1896)
"Le cauchemar" (original title)

A man sleeps fitfully then dreams that a lovely woman is sitting at the foot of his bed. He reaches to embrace her and she becomes a minstrel, then Pierrot. The clown gestures to the moon ... See full summary »

Director:

Georges Méliès

Storyline

A man sleeps fitfully then dreams that a lovely woman is sitting at the foot of his bed. He reaches to embrace her and she becomes a minstrel, then Pierrot. The clown gestures to the moon that becomes huge and bites the dreamer's hand. In fright, the man punches the moon, which returns to his proper place in the sky, only to be replaced by all three visions - woman, minstrel, and Pierrot. Finally the man wakes, his bed a shambles. What to do now?

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Plot Keywords:

pierrot | moon | minstrel | bed | fright | 

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Genres:

Short

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Details

Country:

France

Release Date:

1896 (France)

Also Known As:

A Nightmare

Company Credits

Production Co:

Star-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

1 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Georges Méliès:  [moon]  becomes anthropomorphic and tries to eat the main character, and is punched away by him

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Connections

Referenced in Le cauchemar de Méliès (1988)

User Reviews

A Nightmare

Nightmare, A (1896)

**** (out of 4)

aka Le Cauchemar

A man (played by Melies) is asleep in bed when he begins a nice dream of a woman lying on the end of the bed but soon this turns into a nightmare as a monkey, a clown and the moon begin to play tricks on him. Here another classic from the director, which contains some very good laughs including the sequence where the moon comes to life and attacks him. The special effects here are also very good for the era and it's rather amazing how good they are considering what else was being done at the time. The film runs just over a minute and there's not a dry scene to witness. Certainly one of the best films from this era.