It's interesting to see how Méliès would carry certain themes and use them over and over again in different variations. Sometimes it was dismembered heads, sometimes scientists plotting to travel somewhere. This film, "A Nightmare", makes use of two different themes of the director's career: huge moon faces (although here it has ears, oddly) and people trying to get to sleep. But, as Méliès goes for humor here rather then relevancy, the results are pretty chaotic so it comes up as a series of random set changes, appearances, and transformations as a result. The viewer has no idea why the man dreams about the moon in the first place, since he isn't an astronomer as in "The Astronomer's Dream" where a different moon face is used; nor any insinuation he's racist when he dreams about the black minstrel; nor if he had a sour love experience when he dreams about the young woman in the toga. It obviously makes little sense, but that's probably why it's a dream in the first place.
Méliès probably didn't even have to paint any set designs for this film. The sets used for the dream sequences are derived straight from his "The House of the Devil" from the same year, and the backdrop for the interior of the man's room comes from "The Vanishing Lady" (also 1896). Méliès might not have made such a wise choice there, because when he wakes up, the backdrop is positioned a little off so you can see a different wall at the edge of the screen. What's more, it's pretty flimsy and almost falls right over when he touches it after he gets up.
The moon is pretty cool, however. Blatantly built out of cardboard, it has a nice jaw which chomps on the man's (the director's) hand. I can count at least three other films by Méliès that have gigantic moon faces: "The Astronomer's Dream" (1898), "A Moonlight Serenade" (1904, although it looks a lot like the one from "A Trip to the Moon"), and of course "A Trip to the Moon" itself (1902). While some may consider the moon here to be a horror image at first glance, Méliès was clearly trying to be humorous with his creation and amuse the audience. It is only the man, the one being made sport of here, who finds the experience terrifying. It's also unclear why the sets change to a medieval setting, so I suppose Méliès either didn't care to paint new sets (as I pointed out before, these here are reused) or he thought it'd add to the general confusion.
Confusing or not, "A Nightmare" is most definitely one of the best movies of the period. Needless to say, audiences obviously had never seen anything like it. Méliès had such a crazy imagination that no doubt whatever he comes up with is genuinely comical and enjoyably fun to see today. As stated before, I doubt he really ever meant to be horrific with anything in his career (except probably "Blue Beard" and "A Desperate Crime") so trick films such as these are not only well-executed in effects, but also include that wonderful sense of humor only Méliès could bring to the screen when playing his roles for the camera.
Méliès probably didn't even have to paint any set designs for this film. The sets used for the dream sequences are derived straight from his "The House of the Devil" from the same year, and the backdrop for the interior of the man's room comes from "The Vanishing Lady" (also 1896). Méliès might not have made such a wise choice there, because when he wakes up, the backdrop is positioned a little off so you can see a different wall at the edge of the screen. What's more, it's pretty flimsy and almost falls right over when he touches it after he gets up.
The moon is pretty cool, however. Blatantly built out of cardboard, it has a nice jaw which chomps on the man's (the director's) hand. I can count at least three other films by Méliès that have gigantic moon faces: "The Astronomer's Dream" (1898), "A Moonlight Serenade" (1904, although it looks a lot like the one from "A Trip to the Moon"), and of course "A Trip to the Moon" itself (1902). While some may consider the moon here to be a horror image at first glance, Méliès was clearly trying to be humorous with his creation and amuse the audience. It is only the man, the one being made sport of here, who finds the experience terrifying. It's also unclear why the sets change to a medieval setting, so I suppose Méliès either didn't care to paint new sets (as I pointed out before, these here are reused) or he thought it'd add to the general confusion.
Confusing or not, "A Nightmare" is most definitely one of the best movies of the period. Needless to say, audiences obviously had never seen anything like it. Méliès had such a crazy imagination that no doubt whatever he comes up with is genuinely comical and enjoyably fun to see today. As stated before, I doubt he really ever meant to be horrific with anything in his career (except probably "Blue Beard" and "A Desperate Crime") so trick films such as these are not only well-executed in effects, but also include that wonderful sense of humor only Méliès could bring to the screen when playing his roles for the camera.