The Human Fly
“Positively the greatest magical picture ever offered.”
About The Human Fly
A dancer, played by Georges Méliès, performs for six young women. He then runs up the wall, turns handsprings in the air, and keeps dancing above them. The French title is L'Homme-Mouche.
Cast & crew
More about The Human Fly
Méliès made the trick film for Star Film, catalogue numbers 415–416. The Star catalogue calls the dancer a Hindoo magician. Wikipedia identifies the role as a Russian dancer and says Méliès played it himself. He pointed the camera straight down at the floor. Substitution splices and multiple exposures finish the illusion. A listed running time is 2 minutes.
Themes
Making
Méliès shot the dance from above. Once the set is turned in the frame, ordinary steps on the floor become a climb.
Look
The camera points straight down at the floor. Substitution splices and double exposures add the tricks the overhead angle cannot do alone.
Technique
An overhead camera turns a floor into a wall.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The Star catalogue sells the short as a magical picture and lists handsprings in mid-air.
- Six women are the audience inside the film.
- The floor is the wall. The camera looks down, so a man walking on the studio floor reads as a man walking up a wall.
- Catalogue numbers are 415 and 416, a two-number subject.
- A print survives under the French title.
Scenes
- The dancer leaves the floor, runs up the wall, and turns in the air in front of the six women.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (L'Homme mouche (1902).webm)
