Addition and Subtraction (1900) User Reviews

Addition and Substraction

[Michael_Elliott · 28 March 2008]

Addition And Substraction (1900)

*** (out of 4)

aka Tom Whiskey ou I'illusionniste toque

Hilarious film from Melies has him playing a magician who morphs people into others. There are many highlights here including one scene where he takes three skiny women and combines them into one large woman. Another funny sequence is when the large woman is smashed down into a little boy. The magic tricks here are all done very well and they are highly well done. The print on this film is in pretty rough shape but it's better than being lost. I think this would be a good film to show someone not familiar with the director because it contains all his classic moves.

Everything is complicated and confusing in the Méliès cinematic universe...

[Kitahito · 4/10 · 27 March 2021]

It's all fun and games for the viewer, but if you are a character in a Méliès movie, you are practically done for. Even the most basic things like sitting down, eating, or having some sleep are become incomprehensible puzzles, where the internal logic is so alien, so bizarre that you'd be totally vulnerable and helpless. A mere source of humor for unthinkable entities. Except if you are Méliès himself: the god of the newborn, undiscovered movie world.

Very mediocre, also for its time

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 2 June 2016]

"Tom Whisky ou L'illusioniste toqué" or "Addition and Subtraction" is a 1-minute black-and-white silent short film from the first year of the 20th century. The French title already tells you that this is a work by the first big name in filmmaking: Georges Méliès. And you will probably also not be surprised by the lack of color and sound if you know a bit about movies. About the film itself, there is not too much to say. It is another Mßeliès magic show, not one of his best though, not too bad either, but I have seen superior works from the master from earlier years even. that's why I guess it is only a good watch for silent film enthusiasts. Everybody else can skip it.

If I Could Just Sit Down

[Hitchcoc · 10 November 2017]

The entire premise of this minute long feature is that a manic man is trying to sit in a chair. He tries three, but each time a young woman is there before he can plant himself. He performs various tricks, pushing together three women to make a large one. He then strikes the big woman and makes her into a young boy. Finally he separates the big one and produces the three again, never getting to sit down.

Compared to earlier efforts, quite simple for 1900

[Tornado_Sam · 14 October 2018]

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.