Le voyage à travers l'impossible (1904)

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

Director:

Georges Méliès

Writers:

Georges Méliès, Jules Verne (play)

Stars:

Georges Méliès, Fernande Albany, Jehanne d'Alcy

Cast

Cast overview:
Georges Méliès	...	Mabouloff

Storyline

Before the eminent scientists and members of the renowned geographic society called the Institute of Incoherent Geography, the unconventional and resolute engineer, Crazyloff, lays out his extremely ambitious plans for an unprecedented exploration around the globe. By means of all possible ways of transportation, the enthusiastic travellers will start off their impossible voyage from the snow-capped Alps, however, right from the start, calamity will strike. Is man meant to conquer the unfathomable boundaries of earth and space?

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Plot Keywords:

voyage | trip | institute | alps | snow | 

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Genres:

Short | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

29 October 1904 (USA)

Also Known As:

An Impossible Voyage

Company Credits

Production Co:

Georges Méliès,Star-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Color (hand-colored) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

For a few seconds, a pole can clearly be seen holding the anthropomorphic sun up.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in Yellow Submarine (1968)

User Reviews

Here comes the sun...

I suppose you could consider this film as a spiritual follow up to A Trip to the Moon. The latter remains George Méliès most famous and iconic film; probably for good reason considering its ambition and imagination. An Impossible Voyage explores similar territory and is certainly a worthy companion-piece as an example of early cinematic science fiction.

In this one a group of scientists don't go to the moon, they head further afield to the sun. Perhaps this illustrates Méliès reaching out further too. Certainly this is another example of him developing the idea of what cinema could be. Unlike most of his peers, he was taking the medium into the story-telling sphere. Films like this were in this sense the beginnings of modern cinema as we know it.

The film features a nice colour tint that adds a great deal to the fantastical look. It contains a number of hand painted sets that gives it all a highly stylised look. The scientists' adventure not only takes them to the sun but also across the mountains of Switzerland, which Méliès also depicts like an alien landscape. The travellers end up in the bottom of the ocean completing their amazing journey. All in all this is an entertaining and highly imaginative work, well worth catching.