A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Science fiction, Fantasy | 4 October 1902
Director:
Georges MélièsWriter:
Georges MélièsProduction Designer:
ClaudelProduction Companies:
Georges Méliès, Star FilmsThis is one of the most famous films created in the first decade of cinema. Its original title was Le voyage dans la lune ("Voyage to the Moon").
This was the second Georges Méliès film marketed in the English-speaking world as Trip to the Moon. The first was made in 1898 (see entry).
According to Charles Musser in Before the Nickelodeon, Edison Company cameraman and stringer Alfred C. Abadie attended the opening of this film at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, secretly bought a copy from a theater owner in Algiers, Morocco, and shipped it to Edison “for duping.” Edison began exhibiting the film by October 1902. Cameraman-director Edwin S. Porter studied the film closely and applied its lessons in storytelling to his subsequent films.
Polish-born optometrist Siegmund Lubin (1851-1923) began producing low-budget films in Philadelphia, PA, in 1897 to supply motion pictures for his own camera-projector invention, the Cineograph. After forming the Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1902, he built his own studio, Lubinville, in Philadelphia, and made movies until 1916. ...
This is one of the most famous films created in the first decade of cinema. Its original title was Le voyage dans la lune ("Voyage to the Moon").
This was the second Georges Méliès film marketed in the English-speaking world as Trip to the Moon. The first was made in 1898 (see entry).
According to Charles Musser in Before the Nickelodeon, Edison Company cameraman and stringer Alfred C. Abadie attended the opening of this film at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, France, secretly bought a copy from a theater owner in Algiers, Morocco, and shipped it to Edison “for duping.” Edison began exhibiting the film by October 1902. Cameraman-director Edwin S. Porter studied the film closely and applied its lessons in storytelling to his subsequent films.
Polish-born optometrist Siegmund Lubin (1851-1923) began producing low-budget films in Philadelphia, PA, in 1897 to supply motion pictures for his own camera-projector invention, the Cineograph. After forming the Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1902, he built his own studio, Lubinville, in Philadelphia, and made movies until 1916.
Le voyage dans la lune
A huge cannon fires a rocket containing several astronomers, lead by Professor Barbenfouillis, to the moon. While exploring the surface, they are captured by lunar inhabitants called Selenites, who live underground and explode if they are hit by force. They are able to escape, however, by destroying the King of the Selenites and running back to their capsule. Professor Barbenfouillis uses a rope to flip it over a ledge and into space, where it can return to Earth. Along with a pursuing Selenite, the professor grabs the capsule at the last moment, and both return to Earth with the others. A ship rescues everyone and returns them to shore, where an adoring public awaits ...
A huge cannon fires a rocket containing several astronomers, lead by Professor Barbenfouillis, to the moon. While exploring the surface, they are captured by lunar inhabitants called Selenites, who live underground and explode if they are hit by force. They are able to escape, however, by destroying the King of the Selenites and running back to their capsule. Professor Barbenfouillis uses a rope to flip it over a ledge and into space, where it can return to Earth. Along with a pursuing Selenite, the professor grabs the capsule at the last moment, and both return to Earth with the others. A ship rescues everyone and returns them to shore, where an adoring public awaits them.
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