The Conquest of the Pole

About the production

This was one of Méliès' most ambitious productions, featuring elaborate sets and complex special effects. The giant snowman monster was created using actors in costumes and forced perspective techniques. The film required extensive miniature work for the various vehicles and Arctic landscapes. Méliès invested heavily in the production, creating one of his longest and most technically sophisticated films, but the changing tastes of audiences and the rise of more realistic filmmaking styles made it commercially unsuccessful.

Themes

Themes & topics

Historical background

The Conquest of the Pole (1912) circulated in the silent era. The film, loosely inspired by contemporary events and by Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires, follows the comic misadventures of an international group of explorers on an expedition to the North Pole, where they encounter a man-eating frost giant and a dangerous magnetic needle. Contemporary trade papers and later preservation notes document its place among nickelodeon and cinema-club programs.

Why this film matters

The Conquest of the Pole remains accessible to researchers and viewers as a screen title in museum, archive, and streaming collections. Programmers cite it when tracing regional production history and surviving early prints.

Making of

The production of The Conquest of the Pole represented both the height of Méliès' technical prowess and the beginning of his decline as a filmmaker. Méliès invested heavily in creating elaborate sets representing the Arctic landscape, using painted backdrops and forced perspective to create vast, icy vistas. The various fantastical vehicles, particularly the giant airship 'Aerobus,' were built as full-scale props that could be moved and manipulated during filming. The most challenging aspect was creating the giant snowman monster, which required multiple performers working in coordination with complex camera tricks to achieve the desired scale effect. Méliès employed his signature substitution splices and multiple exposure techniques throughout the film, but also incorporated more sophisticated matte photography that was becoming standard in the industry. The production took several months, unusually long for the period, as Méliès strove to perfect every visual effect. Despite this attention to detail, the film's release coincided with a shift in audience preferences toward more realistic narratives and away from the theatrical, fantasy style that had made Méliès famous.

What critics said

Retrospective writing highlights The Conquest of the Pole for its craft and historical interest. The film, one of Méliès's last cinematic works, was released by Pathé Frères to critical acclaim in France and the United Kingdom, but was a box-office failure and contributed to Méliès's mounting financial difficulties.

Did you know?

• This was Georges Méliès' penultimate film before he was forced out of business
• The film was loosely based on Jules Verne's 1864 novel 'The Adventures of Captain Hatteras'
• The giant snowman monster was one of Méliès' most elaborate creature creations, requiring multiple performers and complex rigging
• At 33 minutes, it was unusually long for a Méliès film, most of which were under 15 minutes
• The film features some of Méliès' most complex special effects, including multiple exposure, matte shots, and substitution splices
• Despite its technical brilliance, the film represented Méliès' failure to adapt to changing cinematic tastes
• The various fantastic vehicles in the film were inspired by both contemporary Arctic expeditions and Méliès' boundless imagination
• The film was released in both French and English versions to appeal to international markets
• Many of the Arctic expedition props and sets were reused from Méliès' earlier films
• The film's commercial failure contributed to Méliès losing his studio in 1913

Visual style

The cinematography of The Conquest of the Pole showcases Georges Méliès' mastery of visual effects and his distinctive approach to cinematic storytelling. The film employs Méliès' signature techniques, including multiple exposure to create ghostly images and superimposed elements, substitution splices for magical appearances and disappearances, and elaborate matte shots to combine live action with painted backgrounds. The camera work is typically static, as was common in Méliès' films, allowing the focus to remain on the carefully choreographed action and special effects occurring within the frame. The film makes extensive use of forced perspective to create the illusion of giant creatures and vast Arctic landscapes, with actors positioned at different distances from the camera to achieve the desired scale effects. The lighting is theatrical and dramatic, with strong contrasts to highlight the magical elements and create a sense of wonder. The cinematography also incorporates sophisticated miniature work, with scale models of the various vehicles blended with full-size elements to create convincing fantastic machines. Despite the static camera, the frame is always filled with visual interest, with Méliès using every inch of the image to create his fantastical Arctic world.

Innovations

The Conquest of the Pole represents some of the most sophisticated technical achievements of Georges Méliès' career, pushing the boundaries of what was possible in early special effects cinema. The film features complex multiple exposure sequences, particularly in scenes involving the various fantastic vehicles and the giant snowman monster, requiring precise timing and registration to create convincing composite images. Méliès employed advanced matte photography techniques to blend actors with miniature sets and painted backgrounds, creating seamless transitions between different scales and environments. The film's elaborate miniature work, including the various Arctic exploration vehicles, demonstrated Méliès' mastery of forced perspective and scale modeling. The creation of the giant snowman required innovative use of perspective tricks and coordinated performances by multiple actors to achieve the illusion of a massive creature. The film also showcases Méliès' sophisticated use of substitution splices, with carefully timed cuts creating magical transformations and appearances. The complex set designs, featuring movable ice formations and mechanical elements, represented significant advances in stagecraft for film production. Perhaps most impressively, Méliès managed to coordinate these various technical elements into a coherent 33-minute narrative, far longer than most of his previous works and requiring unprecedented planning and execution.

Music

As a silent film, The Conquest of the Pole would have been accompanied by live musical performance during its original theatrical run. The typical accompaniment would have featured a pianist or small orchestra performing popular classical pieces, marches, and specially composed cues timed to match the on-screen action. For the Arctic scenes, music might have included dramatic, cold-sounding compositions, while the fantastic elements would have been highlighted with whimsical or mysterious melodies. The race sequences would have been accompanied by energetic marches or galops to create excitement and tension. Unfortunately, no specific musical scores or cue sheets for the film have survived, so modern screenings typically use appropriate period music or newly composed scores. Some contemporary restorations have featured original compositions by silent film accompanists who specialize in creating historically informed musical accompaniments for early cinema. The lack of synchronized sound allowed for flexibility in musical interpretation, with each theater's musical director able to adapt the performance to local tastes and the specific audience response.

Famous quotes

As a silent film, The Conquest of the Pole featured intertitles rather than spoken dialogue. Key intertitles included: 'A race to the North Pole!', 'Professor Maboul's incredible Aerobus', 'The monster of the ice!', 'Victory! We have conquered the Pole!'

Memorable scenes

• The launch of Professor Maboul's giant airship 'Aerobus' with its elaborate propellers and balloon structure
• The various rival expeditions setting off with their fantastic machines, including a giant propeller-driven vehicle and a snow train
• The appearance of the giant snowman monster, created using forced perspective and multiple performers
• The battle with the snowman, featuring Méliès' signature special effects as the explorers fight the creature
• The final planting of the flag at the North Pole with the defeated monster in the background

What audiences thought

Audience reception to The Conquest of the Pole in 1912 was disappointing, contributing significantly to the film's commercial failure and Méliès' subsequent financial troubles. Contemporary audiences, who had once eagerly embraced Méliès' magical trick films, had by 1912 developed a taste for more realistic narratives and sophisticated storytelling. The film's theatrical style and obvious stage-bound sets, which had charmed early cinema audiences, now appeared dated and artificial to viewers accustomed to the growing realism of American and European films. Many audience members found the film's length (at 33 minutes, unusually long for a Méliès production) tedious compared to the shorter, more dynamic films being produced by competitors. The poor reception was particularly disheartening for Méliès as it represented a complete reversal of his earlier popularity, when films like 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902) had been international sensations. Modern audiences, however, viewing the film through the lens of film history, tend to appreciate its imaginative qualities and technical achievements, with the film often receiving enthusiastic responses at special screenings and retrospectives.

Film connections

Influenced by

• The Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Jules Verne
• Contemporary Arctic exploration accounts
• Earlier Méliès fantasy films including A Trip to the Moon
• Stage magic and theatrical traditions
• Scientific romances of the late 19th century

This film influenced

• Metropolis (1927) - in its depiction of fantastic machines
• Things to Come (1936) - in its vision of technological progress
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) - in its adaptation of Verne's work
• The Golden Age of science fiction cinema of the 1950s
• Modern adventure films featuring polar exploration

Film restoration

The Conquest of the Pole survives in its entirety and has been preserved by several film archives, including the Cinémathèque Française and the Library of Congress. A restored version was released in the early 2000s as part of the comprehensive Méliès restoration project, with color elements reconstructed from original hand-painted prints. The film exists in both black and white and partially colorized versions, with the color version featuring Méliès' characteristic stencil coloring techniques. While some deterioration is visible in surviving prints, particularly in the color sequences, the film remains largely intact and viewable. The restoration work has helped preserve the film's elaborate visual effects and detailed sets for modern audiences. The film is considered one of the better-preserved works from Méliès' later period, likely due to its relative importance in his filmography and its distribution in multiple countries, which increased the chances of survival.

Where to watch

• The Criterion Channel (as part of their Méliès collection)
• YouTube (various uploads including restored versions)
• Kino Lorber's DVD/Blu-ray collection 'Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema'
• Flicker Alley's DVD 'The Magician of Cinema'
• Mubi (occasionally featured in silent film retrospectives)
• Various streaming services specializing in classic cinema
• Film archives and cinematheques that screen classic films
• Educational platforms that feature early cinema history