The Bewitched Trunk
About The Bewitched Trunk
Dressed as a Renaissance lord, Georges Méliès folds a sheet of paper into a cone, pulls six live rabbits from it, and puts them in an empty trunk. Two women step out. The trunk fades away to show a third woman, then comes back. Four assistants climb in. When he tries to carry the trunk it seems to flatten him. He climbs out unhurt, and the company bows.
Cast & crew
More about The Bewitched Trunk
French title Le Coffre enchanté. Sold in Britain as The Enchanted Trunk. Star Film 547–549, advertised as a scène merveilleuse et comique. The Grimh listing gives the sold length as 70 meters (225 feet). A Havana screening is recorded for 24 June 1904. The trick is a stage trunk act plus substitution splices, multiple exposure, and a dissolve.
Themes
Making
The rabbits go into the trunk and the women come out. Stop-action swaps the contents while the lid is down.
Look
The camera faces a castle interior and a fireplace. Appearances are made with substitution splices, double exposure, and a dissolve.
Preservation
Wikimedia Commons holds Le Coffre enchanté, running 2 minutes 56 seconds.
Notes
- Méliès plays the lord. He does not hide off camera.
- The American catalog sets the scene in a castle, with the trunk on trestles in front of a fireplace.
- One of the women who appears is described in that catalog as a Turkish girl fanning herself.
- A print on Wikimedia Commons runs 2 minutes 56 seconds, shorter than the 225-foot catalog length.
Scenes
- Six rabbits come out of a paper cone and go into the trunk. Two women come out.
- The trunk seems to squash Méliès, who then climbs out of it for the bow.
Influenced by
- Stage magic trunk acts
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Le Coffre enchanté)
