It's 120+ years old... and still amazing!

A Turn-of-the-Century Illusionist (aka "An Up-to-Date Conjurer") (1899)
Starring: Georges Méliès and an Anonymous Dancer
Director: Georges Méliès

Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

A magician (Méliès) brings a mannequin to life as a beautiful ballet dancer, and he then proceeds to make her appear, disappear, and go through even more amazing transformations.

I have stated previously that I find the Georges Méliès films that are basically just magic tricks performed using in-camera-editing among his least interesting. I keep finding exceptions, however, so I think maybe I just happened upon some of his least interesting "stage magic" films... and the film I'm posting about today is one of the foremost exceptions to what I thought was a general rule. It's not as charming as "The Famous Box Trick" but it's ten times more impressive technically than "The Vanishing Lady".

"A Turn-of-the-Century Illusionist" is barely one minute long, and I guarantee that you will feel that it was time well spent if you enjoy movies at all. This 120+ year-old movie makes it very clear why Méliès is viewed as the father of cinematic special effects: This film has better and more believable transformations and other visual trickery than many of the ones made now... and Méliès was making it up as he went where the modern filmmakers are doing plug-and-play with decades of technical and technological developments.

You can even take a minute and watch this great piece of film history right now. And feel free to speak up in the Comments if I steered you wrong.