The Mysterious Portrait
“Grande nouveauté photographique extraordinaire”
About The Mysterious Portrait
A magician, played by Méliès, sets an empty frame against a stage cloth. He rolls that cloth away, puts a blank canvas and a stool inside the frame, and gestures. His own face comes up slowly in the canvas, talks with him, then slips out of focus and is gone.
Cast & crew
More about The Mysterious Portrait
Star Film number 196. The catalogue advertised it as a grande nouveauté photographique extraordinaire. Méliès wrote, produced, and played the magician.
Themes
Background
An 1899 Star Film number, sold in the catalogue as a photographic novelty.
Look
Méliès shot it himself. A mask over the lens held out everything but the portrait, an early matte, and he threw the lens soft so the face could arrive and leave out of focus.
Technique
Substitution splice, two multiple exposures, dissolves, soft focus, and a lens mask used as a matte.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons. Flicker Alley included the film in First Wizard of Cinema.
Notes
- The portrait is a matte: a mask on the lens exposed only part of the frame.
- The rest of the trick is a substitution splice, two multiple exposures, dissolves, and a lens thrown soft.
- Flicker Alley included it in Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema.
Scenes
- Méliès's face sharpens inside the empty frame and holds a conversation with him.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Le Portrait mystérieux.webm)
- Flicker Alley DVD: Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema
