Conjuring
About Conjuring
Georges Méliès performs a magic turn from the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. In the surviving picture he lifts and sets down barrels, and a horned devil’s head moves from one side to the other. It is Star Film number 2, his first filmed magic act rather than a street actuality. The French title is Séance de prestidigitation.
Cast & crew
More about Conjuring
The Théâtre Robert-Houdin is the production credit on the French Wikipedia page. The catalog length is 20 meters, or 65 feet. A listing shows the view in Annecy on 30 January 1897 under the title Un tour de prestidigitation. The film was long treated as lost. Part of it was found in 2015. A Commons file uses the French title.
Themes
Making
Méliès pointed the camera at a trick he already did on the Robert-Houdin stage, before he started cutting substitutions into the negative.
Look
The camera holds Méliès and the barrels. The head’s jump is the whole effect.
Preservation
Long treated as lost. A portion was found in 2015. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Star Film numbered it 2.
- Later in 1896 Méliès began using the substitution splice. This turn is still the stage act, filmed.
- The devil’s head is the trick the French synopsis describes.
- The 2015 find is the print that put the film back in circulation.
Scenes
- Méliès lifts a barrel and sets it down.
- The horned head is on the other side.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Séance de prestidigitation - 1896 - Méliès.webm)
