![]() A Trip to the Moon. A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la Lune)[a] is a 1. French silent film directed by Georges Méli. ![]() ès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon- propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. It features an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers, led by Méli. ès himself in the main role of Professor Barbenfouillis, and is filmed in the overtly theatrical style for which Méli. ès became famous. The film was an internationally popular success on its release, and was extensively pirated by other studios, especially in the United States. Its unusual length, lavish production values, innovative special effects, and emphasis on storytelling were markedly influential on other film- makers and ultimately on the development of narrative film as a whole. Scholars have commented upon the film's extensive use of pataphysical and anti- imperialist satire, as well as on its wide influence on later film- makers and its artistic significance within the French theatrical f. Looking for the ultimate California road trip? Use our printable maps and flexible itinerary to enjoy miles of beautiful coastline along the famous PCH.éerie tradition. Though the film disappeared into obscurity after Méli. ès's retirement from the film industry, it was rediscovered around 1. Méli. ès's importance to the history of cinema was beginning to be recognized by film devotees. Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. We're going to the MOON!! Come along for the ride!! Thanks for watching!! Leave a. An original hand- colored print was discovered in 1. A Trip to the Moon was named one of the 1. The Village Voice, ranked 8. The film remains the best- known of the hundreds of films made by Méli. ès, and the moment in which the capsule lands in the Moon's eye remains one of the most iconic and frequently referenced images in the history of cinema. It is widely regarded as the earliest example of the science fiction film genre and, more generally, as one of the most influential films in cinema history. The iconic image of the Man in the Moon. ![]() ![]() ![]() At a meeting of the Astronomic Club, its president, Professor Barbenfouillis,[b][c] proposes a trip to the Moon. After addressing some dissent, five other brave astronomers—Nostradamus,[d] Alcofrisbas, Omega, Micromegas,[e] and Parafaragaramus—agree to the plan. They build a space capsule in the shape of a bullet, and a huge cannon to shoot it into space.
The astronomers embark and their capsule is fired from the cannon with the help of "marines", most of whom are played by a bevy of young women in sailors' outfits. The Man in the Moon watches the capsule as it approaches, and it hits him in the eye.[f]Landing safely on the Moon, the astronomers get out of the capsule (without the need of space suits) and watch the Earth rise in the distance. Exhausted by their journey, they unroll their blankets and sleep. ![]() As they sleep, a comet passes, the Big Dipper appears with human faces peering out of each star, old Saturn leans out of a window in his ringed planet, and Phoebe, goddess of the Moon, appears seated in a crescent- moon swing. Phoebe causes a snowfall that awakens the astronomers, and they seek shelter in a cavern where they discover giant mushrooms. One astronomer opens his umbrella; it promptly takes root and turns into a giant mushroom itself. At this point, a Selenite (an insectoidalien inhabitant of the Moon, named after one of the Greek moon goddesses, Selene) appears, but it is killed easily by an astronomer, as the creatures explode if they are hit with force. More Selenites appear and it becomes increasingly difficult for the astronomers to destroy them as they are surrounded. The Selenites capture the astronomers and take them to the palace of their king. An astronomer lifts the Selenite King off his throne and throws him to the ground, causing him to explode. The astronomers run back to their capsule while continuing to hit the pursuing Selenites, and five get inside. The sixth astronomer, Barbenfouillis himself, uses a rope to tip the capsule over a ledge on the Moon and into space. A Selenite tries to seize the capsule at the last minute. Astronomer, capsule, and Selenite fall through space and land in an ocean on Earth, where they are rescued by a ship and towed ashore. The final sequence (missing from some prints of the film) depicts a celebratory parade in honor of the travelers' return, including a display of the captive Selenite and the unveiling of a commemorative statue bearing the motto "Labor omnia vincit".[g]When A Trip to the Moon was made, film actors performed anonymously and no credits were given; the practice of supplying opening and closing credits in films was a later innovation.[1. Nonetheless, the following cast details can be reconstructed from available evidence: Georges Méli. ès as Professor Barbenfouillis.[1][1. Méli. ès, a pioneering French film- maker and magician now generally regarded as the first person to recognize the potential of narrative film,[1. Cinderella (1. 89. Joan of Arc (1. 90. His extensive involvement in all of his films as director, producer, writer, designer, technician, publicist, editor, and often actor makes him one of the first cinematic auteurs.[1. Speaking about his work late in life, Méli. ès commented: "The greatest difficulty in realising my own ideas forced me to sometimes play the leading role in my films .. I was a star without knowing I was one, since the term did not yet exist."[1. All told, Méli. ès took an acting role in at least 3. Bleuette Bernon as Phoebe (the woman on the crescent moon). Méli. ès discovered Bernon in the 1. L'Enfer. She also appeared in his 1. Cinderella.[1. 8]Fran. çois Lallement as the officer of the marines. Lallement was one of the salaried camera operators for the Star Film Company.[1. Henri Delannoy as the captain of the rocket[1]Jules- Eug. ène Legris as the parade leader. Legris was a magician who performed at Méli. ès's theater of stage illusions, the Th. éâtre Robert- Houdin in Paris.[1. Victor Andr. é, Delpierre, Farjaux, Kelm, and Brunnet as the astronomers. Andr. é worked at the Th. éâtre de Cluny; the others were singers in French music halls.[2. Ballet of the Th. éâtre du Ch. âtelet as stars[2. Acrobats of the Folies Berg. ère as Selenites[2. Production[edit]Inspiration[edit]When asked in 1. A Trip to the Moon, Méli. ès credited Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Cinema historians, the mid- 2. French writer Georges Sadoul first among them, have frequently suggested H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon, a French translation of which was published a few months before Méli. ès made the film, as another likely influence. Sadoul argued that the first half of the film (up to the shooting of the projectile) is derived from Verne and that the second half (the travelers' adventures on and in the moon) is derived from Wells.[2. In addition to these literary sources, various film scholars have suggested that Méli. ès was heavily influenced by other works, especially Jacques Offenbach's operetta Le voyage dans la lune (an unauthorized parody of Verne's novels) and the A Trip to the Moon attraction at the 1. Pan- American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.[2. The French film historian Thierry Lefebvre hypothesizes that Méli. ès drew upon both of these works, but in different ways: he appears to have taken the structure of the film—"a trip to the moon, a moon landing, an encounter with extraterrestrials with a deformity, an underground trek, an interview with the Man in the Moon, and a brutal return to reality back on earth"—directly from the 1. Offenbach operetta.[2. Filming[edit]. Méli. ès (at left) in the studio where A Trip to the Moon was filmed. As the science writer Ron Miller notes, A Trip to the Moon was one of the most complex films that Méli. ès had made, and employed "every trick he had learned or invented".[2. It was his longest film at the time; [h] both the budget and filming duration were unusually lavish, costing ₣1. The camera operators were Th. éophile Michault and Lucien Tainguy, who worked on a daily basis with Méli. ès as salaried employees for the Star Film Company. In addition to their work as cameramen, Méli. ès's operators also did odd jobs for the company such as developing film and helping to set up scenery, and another salaried operator, Fran. çois Lallement, appeared onscreen as the marine officer.[3. By contrast, Méli. ès hired his actors on a film- by- film basis, drawing from talented individuals in the Parisian theatrical world, with which he had many connections. They were paid one Louis d'or per day, a considerably higher salary than that offered by competitors, and had a full free meal at noon with Méli. ès.[3. 2]Méli. ès's film studio, which he had built in Montreuil, Seine- Saint- Denis in 1. Méli. ès's own Th. éâtre Robert- Houdin (1. ×6. 6m).[3. 4] Throughout his film career, Méli. ès worked on a strict schedule of planning films in the morning, filming scenes during the brightest hours of the day, tending to the film laboratory and the Th. éâtre Robert- Houdin in the late afternoon, and attending performances at Parisian theaters in the evening.[3. The workshop set includes a glass roof, evoking the actual studio. According to Méli. ès's recollections, much of the unusual cost of A Trip to the Moon was due to the mechanically operated scenery and the Selenite costumes in particular, which were made for the film using cardboard and canvas. Méli. ès himself sculpted prototypes for the heads, feet, and kneecap pieces in terra cotta, and then created plastermolds for them. A specialist in mask- making used these molds to produce cardboard versions for the actors to wear.[3. One of the backdrops for the film, showing the inside of the glass- roofed workshop in which the space capsule is built, was painted to look like the actual glass- roofed studio in which the film was made.[3.
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