Mèliés the Magician

In 1895, the first audiences for moving pictures were stunned by images of workers leaving a factory and a train pulling into a station, courtesy of the Lumière Brothers. But it was George Mèliés who conjured up real movie magic, turning his back on reality and inventing a totally artificial and wondrous world. In this two-part program celebrating the cinema's first wizard, who "explored all the magic possibilities of the camera, and developed tricks and special effects that his followers adapted and modernized," viewers are treated to Jacques Meny's documentary "The Magic of Mèliés," which explores the filmmaker's remarkable career through film clips, interviews and reconstructions. The main attraction, "Mèliés' Magic Show," compiles 15 of Mèliés' magnificent short films, including his best-known, "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), containing the iconic image of a rocket embedded in the eye of the man in the moon. Though a century old, these ancient films have lost little of their power to delight. Definitely recommended. (K. Lee Benson)