framptonhollis During the dawn of cinema, no filmmaker was more creative and fantastic than the French magician turned director Georges Méliès, the man behind countless classic fantasies. "The Mermaid" is among his many efforts and it enraptures his style more so than most of his other movies can. Méliès, himself, plays the lead role as a magician who shows off some of his finest tricks before finally summoning a mermaid as a sort of climax to his act. The film is comical and light in tone and is likely to leave most viewers with a bright, shining smile across their lips, and many will be able to find that stem in their brain that encourages all of the wonderment and excitement of childhood. The editing here is clearly revolutionary for its time, although it may seem ridiculously flawed and obvious nowadays, back in 1905 it was anything but. Classic camera tricks are constantly being used to their full advantage as Méliès playfully shows off his skills in the crafts of magic and cinema (or, should I say, cinemagic).

Michael_Elliott Mermaid, The (1904) *** (out of 4) aka La Sirène Once again Melies plays a magician who fills up an aquarium tank only to put some of the water into his top hot where he then goes fishing. The second part of the film deals with the title character who also appears out of no where. This is a pretty good little film that manages to have some nice laughs and some very good trick shots. Some of the special effects are obvious but there are others, like the one on one fishing scenes, that hold up very, very well. The mermaid stuff I didn't care too much for but the visual beauty is certainly there.

ackstasis Georges Méliès' 'The Mermaid' is a good change from a lot of the straight "magic act" films of his that I've been reviewing of late. It starts out like many of his shorts, as a magician (played, as usual, by the director himself) wearing a silk top hat approaches an empty aquarium, examines it for a few moments and then places his hat upside down on a table. Scooping up glassfuls of water from the aquarium, the magician pours the water into his hat and subsequently goes fishing in it. Miraculously, whenever he lowers his hook into the hat a fish bites upon it and is transferred across to the water tank, where it swims around idly. He then inexplicably pulling rabbits from the suddenly-dry silk that (this special effect, in particular, is done surprisingly well).Only later does this Méliès short display some uniqueness. As the magician wheels the tank towards the centre of the stage, we zoom in upon it to see that a beautiful mermaid, hovering above the ground, has taken residence within it. To demonstrate that she is floating above the ground, Méliès shuffles beneath her excitedly. Then, taking his place on a godly throne, the magician is suddenly transformed into Neptune, the Roman god of the Sea.Not particularly special in any real way, 'The Mermaid' is a decent Méliès short, with enough variation from the filmmaker's usual style to be well-worth watching.

gagewyn I watched this as one of the shorts on The magic of Melies video cassette released by Kino on Video, 1994. Image quality was good. Music matched the mood of the film. No color was added. Cropping did not appear to interfere with the film. Frame speed appeared to be adjusted. This should give an idea of the technical quality of the release I watched.This film was pretty. Some of the special effects in it are extremely good. I could'nt pick out exactly where the editing was done when the clown pulls rabbits from a hat. If it did'nt go so quickly I think that many of the effects would come off as cheesy and played out, given that they have been used in so many films since. As it is the dizzying pace keeps things interesting. I think that an interesting aspect of the film is Melies experience as a magician. He directs eye movement away from the effect much as a magician distracts the eye to perform a trick.I recommend watching this. It has an intriguing feel. I don't know that one should go to a great deal of trouble to find this film, but it's worth a look.