A Trip to the Moon
About A Trip to the Moon
Professor Barbenfouillis and five astronomers climb into a shell. A cannon fires it at the Moon. It hits the Man in the Moon in the eye. On the surface they meet the Selenites, kill some, and are dragged to a palace. They smash the Selenite king, run for the shell, and one of them tips it off the Moon with a captive aboard. They fall back to Earth.
Cast & crew
More about A Trip to the Moon
Georges Méliès wrote, directed, produced, and edited it. Star Film catalogue numbers 399–411. Lucien Tainguy photographed. It opened in France on September 1, 1902. Méliès plays Barbenfouillis. Bleuette Bernon, Jehanne d'Alcy, and François Lallement are billed. The length is 18 minutes at 12 frames a second, 16 at 14, and 14 at 16. A hand-colored print was found in 1993 and restored in 2011.
Themes
Look
Lucien Tainguy photographed the studio moon, the cannon, and the Selenite palace. Méliès stopped the camera for the substitutions.
Preservation
Prints survive. A hand-colored print found in 1993 was restored in 2011.
Notes
- The shell is fired from a cannon. It is not a rocket with an engine.
- The landing is in the eye.
- The sources are Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, and H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive as Levoyagedanslalune.
- The French title is Le Voyage dans la Lune.
Scenes
- The shell hits the Man in the Moon in the eye.
- The astronomers shove the shell off the edge with a Selenite hanging on.
Influenced by
- Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (1865)
- Jules Verne's Around the Moon (1870)
- H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon
Also available
- Internet Archive (Levoyagedanslalune)
