Hi,
My name is George, and my wife recently gave me the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" 5th edition, by Steven Jay Schneider. For almost a year now, I have been acquiring these movies, and organizing them in Movienizer, so at this point have over 1000 movies. Here is a review of the first movie in the book:


Le Voyage Dans La Lune
A Trip to the Moon

1902 - 14m Silent BW

Genre:Science Fiction
Country: France
Director: George Melies
Writers: Jules Verne
Cast: Victor Andre, Bleuette Bernon

At 14 minutes, this movie is very long compared to most movies at the time, which usually ran for about 2 minutes. It is considered the first Science Fiction movie ever made, and as in all science fiction movies, special effects are a big part of the production. Be prepared for the first dissolves, superimpositions and other tricks that continue to be part of moviemaking today.

The story sees a group of scientists preparing for a journey to the moon, which is depicted as having the face of "The Man in the Moon". The troupe of scientists enter a door in the side of the first movie spaceship, which is a huge bullet, Several lab assistants push the bullet into the barrel of an large gun. The gun is aimed at the moon, and fired. The spaceship travels to the moon, and lands in the right eye of the Man in the Moon.

On the surface of the moon, the travelers encounter a hostile race of beings called the Selenites, who take them to their King. By accident, they discover that they can destroy the Selenites by touching them with an umbrella. They return to earth by falling into the ocean, where they explore until they are rescued and made heroes.

Even though the movie was made in 1902, much can be gained by experiencing the cinematic techiques that Melies used to tell the Jules Verne story. Imagine as you watch, what a fantastic new world was opening up to audiences at that time.

This film can be watched if you have a few minutes on several video sites, including youtube, google video, etc. Here is a link to one of them. Note that this version is accompanied by a narration (obviously not original, since this was silent) that tells more about the story and the movie. Since it was in the public domain, I burned it to dvd and it is now in my Movienizer collection.

http://www.archive.org/details/Levoyagedanslalune

Enjoy!

George LeBlanc