I noticed that the "Georges Méliès Encore" DVD put all the bizarre and difficult to understand shorts towards the end of the disc. Among them, this is THE most confusing. I do understand that the weird looking guy with the feather on his head is supposed to be the Devil--but he looks nothing like what modern illustrators would conceive. It's Georges Méliès himself in this role. Without intertitle cards, it's hard to know exactly what's transpiring--and I watched it twice to be as certain as I could! A guy is apparently working on stained glass panels for a church. The Devil sneaks in and gives the guy a Mickey. While asleep, the Devil messes with the stained glass. Then, the guy awakens and does a whole lotta magic (a trademark of a Georges Méliès film) in which he makes ladies appear and disappear--all to the detriment of the story--which, is appears, is practically non-existent. Nice effects, incomprehensible story.
6 Reviews
The Sweet Counter Beckons...
JoeytheBrit26 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Lord only knows what this one was about. Georges Melies was clearly running out of ideas by the time he made this, so there's nothing particularly new here. There's certainly no story-line as far as I could make out, other than perhaps one chap being drugged by some devil type and then awakening to perform magic tricks on a lady in a window that he brings to life. People appear, disappear then re-appear before disappearing again with monotonous regularity, apparently until Melies' camera ran out of film.
I can't imagine even audiences from 1910 being impressed by this one, and on this evidence it's hardly surprising that Melies' film-making career would be over in a couple more years.
I can't imagine even audiences from 1910 being impressed by this one, and on this evidence it's hardly surprising that Melies' film-making career would be over in a couple more years.
One of the Devil series
suchenwi20 June 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Over the seventeen years (1896-1913) of his film-making, Méliès of course reused some ideas and patterns, for instance the magic devil/imp as in this piece. But still, each of those somewhat similar films also contain original content that makes watching them fun (if you go for such old material at all).
Here we have an old scholar/alchimist brooding over a book, challenged by the devil, and going through the familiar sorcery to create a woman by throwing pieces of clothing against a stain-glass church window, like a jigsaw puzzle (and later in reverse). The woman also multiplies herself five-fold so as to match a similar paravent. I know worse ways of spending 7:16 minutes of my life.. :^)
Here we have an old scholar/alchimist brooding over a book, challenged by the devil, and going through the familiar sorcery to create a woman by throwing pieces of clothing against a stain-glass church window, like a jigsaw puzzle (and later in reverse). The woman also multiplies herself five-fold so as to match a similar paravent. I know worse ways of spending 7:16 minutes of my life.. :^)
What the Devil?
Hitchcoc22 November 2017
This is yet another obtuse treatment of Melies in hell. I wonder if he feared going there or was just fascinated with the concept. This involves a Sorcerer or Alchemist who is messing with spells. He has an assistant. For whatever reason, he summons Satan and Old Scratch begins to torment him. There is a bit with a stained glass window and woman who is put together. Of course, Melies always brings women in out of the blue. Usually, they pose or dance. The visual effects are OK but it's well trampled territory.
One of Méliès's last films
Tornado_Sam12 August 2018
Despite IMDb's date, I believe this film was actually made in 1911--in 1910, Méliès actually stopped production altogether to tour Europe with a stage magic spectacle called "Les Fantômes de Nil". Film historian John Frazer denies this, claiming the short was made the year IMDb states--hence the discrepancy and leaving us unsure of which year is correct.
This Méliès short is one of his last six--made under the supervision of Pathé Frères, a former rival of Star Film. Because the trick film fad had died out at this point, Méliès found himself becoming less and less popular. Even his fairy-tale extravaganzas were outdated. So it's evident that when he made this one, he was saying good-bye to his special effects. "The Diabolical Church Window" consists of, basically, seven straight minutes of movie magic which does not relate any sort of story in particular. An alchemist (Méliès himself, if I'm not mistaken) is sitting at his desk in a medieval chamber and becomes the victim of Satan, who shows up and starts torturing him. First, he makes a picture of a beautiful woman on the stained glass window come to life. The alchemist flirts with her only for her to disappear and show up later as the film progresses. A series of other tricks occur as well: The woman multiplies herself, an odd little gnome shows up, etc, all of which are rather irrelevant except for being connected to the fact Satan is behind them all.
The entire film is tinted in a beautiful neon green/yellow color which adds to the atmosphere of the film, an aspect which discerns it from earlier works. The visual effects also feel a little different and not so same ole, particularly the part in which the alchemist gets caught in the window and the fire and smoke shoots out. Another thing that can be noted is that the devil in here is played by a different actor (it's possible I'm incorrect but he didn't look like Méliès at all) which is odd, considering Satan was a character he often portrayed in earlier shorts. Interesting but it's obvious why Méliès was almost done with his career. No plot, nothing, just effects; but admittedly still entertaining.
This Méliès short is one of his last six--made under the supervision of Pathé Frères, a former rival of Star Film. Because the trick film fad had died out at this point, Méliès found himself becoming less and less popular. Even his fairy-tale extravaganzas were outdated. So it's evident that when he made this one, he was saying good-bye to his special effects. "The Diabolical Church Window" consists of, basically, seven straight minutes of movie magic which does not relate any sort of story in particular. An alchemist (Méliès himself, if I'm not mistaken) is sitting at his desk in a medieval chamber and becomes the victim of Satan, who shows up and starts torturing him. First, he makes a picture of a beautiful woman on the stained glass window come to life. The alchemist flirts with her only for her to disappear and show up later as the film progresses. A series of other tricks occur as well: The woman multiplies herself, an odd little gnome shows up, etc, all of which are rather irrelevant except for being connected to the fact Satan is behind them all.
The entire film is tinted in a beautiful neon green/yellow color which adds to the atmosphere of the film, an aspect which discerns it from earlier works. The visual effects also feel a little different and not so same ole, particularly the part in which the alchemist gets caught in the window and the fire and smoke shoots out. Another thing that can be noted is that the devil in here is played by a different actor (it's possible I'm incorrect but he didn't look like Méliès at all) which is odd, considering Satan was a character he often portrayed in earlier shorts. Interesting but it's obvious why Méliès was almost done with his career. No plot, nothing, just effects; but admittedly still entertaining.
The Diabolical Church Window
Michael_Elliott27 August 2011
Le vitrail diabolique (1911)
*** (out of 4)
aka The Diabolical Church Window
A man is sitting at his desk reading a book when a church window has some female clothes float up to it. These clothes eventually turn into a real woman so the man then tries doing some experiments on her, which causes her to turn into five women as well as various other things. This is the type of film that Melies made countless times in his career. We've had the director deal with a lot of films where someone would throw clothes on a wall (or in this case a mirror) and then a human would form. The quality of the special effects here were certainly impressive as the edits used to do them weren't nearly as obvious as some of the earlier pictures. I also enjoyed the second portion of the film and especially the sequence where the one woman turn to two then three and so on. Another major plus is that once again Melies is in front of the camera and he just seems to have so much passion that you really can't help but smile as he performs his tricks. While this isn't one of the director's strongest films there's still enough charm to make it worth viewing.
*** (out of 4)
aka The Diabolical Church Window
A man is sitting at his desk reading a book when a church window has some female clothes float up to it. These clothes eventually turn into a real woman so the man then tries doing some experiments on her, which causes her to turn into five women as well as various other things. This is the type of film that Melies made countless times in his career. We've had the director deal with a lot of films where someone would throw clothes on a wall (or in this case a mirror) and then a human would form. The quality of the special effects here were certainly impressive as the edits used to do them weren't nearly as obvious as some of the earlier pictures. I also enjoyed the second portion of the film and especially the sequence where the one woman turn to two then three and so on. Another major plus is that once again Melies is in front of the camera and he just seems to have so much passion that you really can't help but smile as he performs his tricks. While this isn't one of the director's strongest films there's still enough charm to make it worth viewing.
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