Alcofribas, The Master Magician
About Alcofribas, The Master Magician
A prince goes into a grotto with the old magician Alcofribas and pays him to produce a fiancée. Flames rise from a cup and a woman's bust appears in them. The prince wants a whole woman. Assistants carry in a vase, and a woman comes out of it. Alcofribas puts her in a trance on two boards. When the prince reaches for the floating body, it vanishes. The grotto changes to basalt and a waterfall, with three naiads in the water. The prince demands his money back. Alcofribas sinks into the ground. Phantoms fill the cave.
Cast & crew
More about Alcofribas, The Master Magician
Georges Méliès directed and plays Alcofribas. Star Film sold it in 1903 as numbers 514–516. The French title is L'Enchanteur Alcofribas. Britain called it The Enchanter. A copy runs 3 minutes 37 seconds. A catalogue length is 70 meters. The name comes from Alcofrybas Nasier, a near-anagram of François Rabelais and a character in Pantagruel. The tricks include pyrotechnics, a waterfall, substitution splices, multiple exposures, and dissolves. The woman in the close-up is unnamed.
Themes
Making
Méliès plays the enchanter in his own grotto set. The prince's fee buys a series of women who do not stay.
Preservation
A print running 3 minutes 37 seconds survives.
Notes
- The prince pays first. The illusions start after the fee.
- The woman in the close-up is unnamed.
- The last demand is for the money, not for another woman.
- The British title is The Enchanter.
Scenes
- A woman's bust rises in the flames from the cup.
- The levitated body disappears as the prince steps toward it.
- Alcofribas sinks through the floor and the phantoms come in.
Influenced by
- François Rabelais's Pantagruel
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (L'Enchanteur Alcofribas (1903).webm)
