The Knight of Black Art
About The Knight of Black Art
A magician, with an assistant and two women dressed as pages, builds a large tambourine from two hoops and a cloth. He paints a face on it and pulls out wine bottles and old-fashioned dresses. He multiplies the pages to four, throws the dresses on them, and they dance. He hangs the empty frame, brings one woman up out of it, and then vanishes into it himself. He splits the frame back into hoops, turns them into bicycle wheels, and rides off.
Cast & crew
More about The Knight of Black Art
Georges Méliès plays the magician. Manuel plays the servant. Suzanne Faes is one of the four women. Star Film numbered it 1030–1034. The French title is Le Tambourin fantastique. Published filmographies date it 1907. The running time on file lists is about 6 minutes.
Themes
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The whole act is built around one tambourine frame.
- The exit is a bicycle made from the two hoops.
- Manuel, Méliès's usual assistant, plays the servant who is left staring.
Scenes
- Dresses fly out of the painted tambourine face and onto the pages.
- The hoops become bicycle wheels and Méliès rides away.
