Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a fellow IMDber about the Bourne movies,I decided to take a look at their reviews.Being in the mood recently to watch another short from Georges Méliès,I was delighted to spot a review for a Méliès I've not heard of before,which led to me getting set for a devilish treat.The plot:Meeting professor Alcofrisbas and 7 fellow scientists, William Crackford is told of a plan to travel round the world.Helping them to get all set,Crackford signs Alcofrisbas's permission contract for the trip,without reading it.Thinking that he is about to go on a round the world adventure,Crackford soon discovers that he has just made a deal with the devil. View on the film:Keeping his Sci-Fi and Horror roots at the centre,writer/director Georges Méliès (who also plays the devil!) gives the title a unique slant into Comedy,via giving each attempt the guys make to run away from the devil a slap-stick quality. Beating the devil with his in- camera tricks, Méliès updates the Faust tale with starling surreal from the Seven Deadly Sins burning away on screen and a masterfully designed Phantom Carriage revealing the devils final trick.

ofpsmith Good old Georges Melies shows his talents again with The 400 Tricks of The Devil. The story is of a group of travelers who are tormented by Satan in various ways. Not 400 but quite a numerous amount of tricks are played on them. The most famous part of this film is probably the scene with the horse and wagon. I say this because on YouTube it was the thumbnail image for every way to watch it and it's the poster on this site. Melies of course shows off his normal great special effects that he is known for, and I have found to be prominent in all of his films that I've seen with the exception of Why That Actor Was Late. Although not as good as say A Trip To the Moon, I still say to check it out if you're a big Melies fan.

Cineanalyst "The Merry Frolics of Satan" is a fairly enjoyable fantasy adventure film from early cinema magician Georges Méliès. As historian Richard Abel ("The Ciné Goes to Town") points out, these spectacles from Méliès were becoming increasingly elaborate and expensive to produce, especially by comparison to the smaller costs of his competitor's films, such as those by Pathé. As with some of his other films around this time, "The Merry Frolics of Satan" was produced specially for music hall screenings. In this case, it was for the Chatelet's stage feerie "The Merry Deeds of Satan", from which this film is based (Abel).In the film, Satan, disguised as a person, leads some misfortunate people on a hellish journey, including via a train the size of a child's amusement ride and a phantom carriage pulled by an apocalyptic skeletal horse. In the end, they're roasted by performers dressed in pig-like costumes. "The Merry Frolics of Satan" has its moments, including the phantom carriage ride where movement is simulated by a moving backdrop of space stuff. This scene has become famous for having been used in many documentary clips on Méliès and early cinema. The print available from Flicker Alley is also hand-colored and tinted and includes narration. Yet, Méliès, unfortunately, also seemed to be relying more on theatrical tricks and less on cinematic ones as he had in his earlier spectacles. Stop-substitution splices and multiple-exposure photography remained the basis for his single-scene trick films, but his longer multi-scene fantasy adventures seemed to be becoming increasingly theatrical. The preference to use trap doors in this film instead of stop-motion and editing for appearances and disappearances seems to evidence this increased theatricality.

Michael_Elliott Merry Frolics Of Satan, The (1906)*** (out of 4)aka Les Quatre cents farces du diableEntertaining 14-minute film from the French master has two gentlemen being haunted by Satan as they travel from one hotel to the next. Before long Satan throws them into a special carriage and takes them on a trip to Hell. The actual story here really doesn't mean too much because the real highlight here are all the special effects and various tricks that pop up. This here, thanks in large part to the title, remains one of Melies most popular films and it's understandable as there's a lot of fun to be had here. As with many of his longer movies, this one here features some narration and it's also hand colored, which is a big plus. The colors look great and they are used with quite a bit of imagination. Some of the best stuff in the film deals with Satan, painted red of course, popping out of various places and scaring the men. Another major plus is when we actually get to Hell and various other demons take form.