The Impossible Voyage
About The Impossible Voyage
A society of geographers, led by the engineer Crazyloff, sets out for the Sun. They crash in the Alps, try to climb the Jungfrau, and are swallowed by the Sun. They freeze in an icebox, thaw at a fire, and board a submarine that explodes and drops them back on Earth. They return in triumph. Georges Méliès plays Crazyloff.
Cast & crew
More about The Impossible Voyage
Georges Méliès wrote, directed, produced, and photographed it for Star Film. Catalogue numbers 641–659, with a supplement at 660–661. The length is 374 meters. It follows the 1882 play Journey Through the Impossible by Jules Verne and Adolphe d'Ennery, and the shape of Méliès's own A Trip to the Moon. Some prints were hand-colored and sold at a higher price.
Background
A 1904 Star Film trick picture, made two years after A Trip to the Moon and sold in France and abroad.
Making
Méliès built the Alps, the Sun, and the submarine as studio trick scenes, using substitution splices and painted sets.
Reviews
Elizabeth Ezra has written on the film's satire of scientific travel and of class.
Audiences
It was a large international success when Star Film released it.
Look
Méliès photographed the studio sets himself, with stop-substitution for the crashes and the voyage into the Sun.
Preservation
Prints survive, including a hand-colored copy that the Czech Film Archive gave to the Méliès family.
Notes
- Fernande Albany plays Mrs. Polehunter, May de Lavergne a nurse, and Jehanne d'Alcy a villager.
- English titles include An Impossible Voyage and Whirling the Worlds. The French title is Le Voyage à travers l'impossible.
- A hand-colored print was given to the Méliès family by the Czech Film Archive.
Scenes
- The expedition crashes in the Alps and then tries the Jungfrau.
- The Sun swallows the travelers.
- The submarine explodes and they land back on Earth.
Influenced by
- Journey Through the Impossible (1882 play)
- A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Also available
- Internet Archive (The_Impossible_Voyage)
- Wikimedia Commons (Le Voyage à travers l'impossible (Georges Méliès, 1904).webm)
