Solar Eclipse -- August 22, 2017

Yesterday we saw the first nationwide solar eclipse since 1979.  It was foggy in Pacifica, but I found a nice video.  The sky did get darker around the totality.  I had the nationwide coverage from CBS on the television while I worked. 

The Fantastic Soirées of Robert-Houdin - February 3, 2012

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin is often called the father of modern magic.  He introduced the practice of performing in evening wear.  He trained as a watchmaker and developed an interest in conjuring.  He built many famous automata and created many famous mechanical illusions, like the orange tree.

This program, from Robert-Houdin's 03-July-1845, the first show at his Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, was reproduced in The Old and the New Magic by Henry Ridgely Evans, 1906.  According to Robert-Houdin's memoir, this show was a flop. Georges Méliès later managed the Théâtre Robert-Houdin.  Harry Houdini derived his stage name from Robert-Houdin.

Georges Méliès 150 - December 8, 2011

Today is the 150th birthday of the original film auteur, Georges Méliès. Méliès was a magician who also managed the Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris.  He was a pioneer in creating special effects.  This image is from one of this most famous films, the 1902 production "L'homme à la tête de Caoutchouc" (The Man With the India Rubber Head").

Moon Landing Anniversary -- July 20, 2009

40 years ago Commander Neil Armstrong and Pilot Buzz Aldrin rode the lunar lander to the surface of the moon. Armstrong was the first person to step on the surface. We gathered at our house to watch and my mom made a cake that looked like the moon.

I'm sorry Walter Cronkite didn't make it till the anniversary.

DVD: Georges Méliès First Wizard of Cinema -- September 6, 2008

I finished watching Flicker Alley's (http://www.flickeralley.com/) 5-dvd set Georges Méliès First Wizard of Cinema. This is a remarkable collection of more than 170 movies, ranging from "Une Partie de cartes", Star Film catalog #1 from 1896 to his last, "Le Voyage de la famille Bourrichon" from 1913. The shortest complete film, "La Vengeance du gâte-sauce" from 1900 is 33 seconds. The longest is "A la conquête du pôle" from 1912, which is 30 minutes and 22 seconds.

I had worried that watching so many Méliès movies in a relatively short time would give me indigestion, but I never felt sated. I enjoyed observing patterns over time, like the cakewalk step that turned up in 1903's "Le Cake-walk infernal" and many other movies in the same period.

I saw many examples of Méliès' performing abilities. I was sad on disk four when I realized that I had not seen him appear for a while. It was nice on the last disk when I saw him in "Les Illusions fantaisistes", which looked back to his earliest trick films. This was followed two films later by "A la conquête du pôle", where he has the leading role, and even something close to a closeup. I first read about this film in a library book when I was in grammar school. I had seen the schene with the monster before, but never the whole movie.

The picture quality varied greatly, but is understandable because many movies only survive in one print. The musical scores varied but most were appropriate. The one for "Le Tonnerre de Jupiter" was very funny.

The menu for "A la conquête du pôle" offerred a choice of German or translated English, but both options give the German. I was happy to see that the Flicker Alley site offers the translations.

Michael Brooke has embarked on a brave project to write a blog entry about each movie on the dvd. As I write this, he is taking a breather; I look forward to more entries: http://filmjournal.net/melies/