The Devil's Money Bags (1902) User Reviews

Les Trésors de Satan

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 7/10 · 13 July 2013]

Les Trésors de Satan - The Treasures of Satan - (1902) with a run time of 2.45 seconds.

Satan and his two minions toss seven bags into a cardboard coffin for safe keeping. They leave. Old thief breaks in and opens the coffin to steal the treasures, unaware that Satan still has powers controlling it.

The bags bounce up and down for several seconds, scaring him, until seven girls guarding the treasures jump out of coffin, and torment the goofball with spears. The coffin gets up and dances, scaring him even more. He momentarily runs from them and tries to jump into the coffin, which turns into Satan's two minions, still guarding the gold (or whatever the bloody hell was in the sacks)

The coffin reappears, the thief jumps into it and, in a surprisingly grisly twist, it bursts into flames with him in it! They all dance around it until it explodes, leaving only Satan and his sacks of stuff.

Amusing, stop-motion trick photography is the purpose here, with not much else involved, filmed from one stationary angle; its painted backdrops, which Caligari perfected some years later, are quite good.

Treasures of Satan, The

[Michael_Elliott · 1 April 2008]

Treasures of Satan, The (1902)

*** (out of 4)

aka Les Tresors de Satan

Highly imaginative fil from Melies has Satan, with the help from two assistants, putting his gold into a wooden crate but when they leave a room a thief breaks in with plans on stealing the money. However, the thief doesn't know that Satan's magical powers still has a hold on the money. This is a very fun film that manages to use some of the same old magic tricks but do them in a way that they come off very fresh. There's one great sequence where the chest swallows the thief and how it ends is great fun. The scene with the money dancing is also nicely done. The special effects hold up quite well today and the charming nature of the story makes this a must see.

Money is the Root of All Magic

[boblipton · 10/10 · 14 March 2008]

Another lovely series of magic tricks for Melies, as a sneak thief tries to steal some moneybags from old Nick -- and all Pandemonium breaks loose! Even by Melies' standards, there is some excellent stage magic, as imp after imp -- and impishly cute girls they are too -- emerge from the box, step to the floor and walk around, while others come out -- feet in sight all the time! As always, done in Melies' typical blend of showmanship and good humor.

This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.

Melies Commentary on Greed

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 13 November 2017]

Once again our old buddy Satan shows up. When a miser hold on to his wealth he has been put in the devil's pocket. A man who tries to steal the money is trying to steal from Satan. This premise leads to loads of magic tricks and loots of devils. Melies really seemed to like women because they always seemed to be the instruments of revenge for his less desirable characters. This is a very enjoyable, though scary offering.

A comedy with a horrifying ending!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 August 2018]

This film by Georges Méliès is pretty severely faded. But considering it's 116 years old, who's to complain?! It is a comedy that features a rather horrifying ending, that's for sure!

The costumes make it appear that it was supposed to be about 1400...more or less. A sorcerer puts his money bags in a coffin-like box and when a jerk comes to steal it, female servants pop out with the money bags...but the bags soon turn into spears. If you think this is bad...wait until what ULTIMATELY happens to the thief!

While the filmmaker's techniques had been around for a few years, this one was executed a bit better than most AND was darkly humorous. Worth seeing and very clever.