The Prophetess of Thebes
About The Prophetess of Thebes
A king of Egyptian Thebes demands his future from an astrologer. The astrologer, played by Georges Méliès, refuses even when threatened with death, then stacks the pieces of a statue until a priestess comes alive. She makes the king look through a magic telescope. He sees himself assassinated on his throne, tries to stab her, and she vanishes. Swords bounce off the astrologer. The king buys the curse off with a heavy bag of gold. The astrologer, the prophetess, and their assistant laugh over the bag.
Cast & crew
More about The Prophetess of Thebes
Star Film number 1096–1101. The French title is La Prophétesse de Thèbes. Wikidata dates the release 1907 and gives a length of 6 minutes. The English Wikipedia dates the film 1908. Moving Picture World printed a synopsis of the opening: a throne, a box of statue pieces, and the statue coming to life.
Themes
Making
The living priestess is assembled from sculpted pieces on stage, then replaced by the performer, the usual Méliès stop-and-swap.
Look
The camera sits at an angle to the Theban set instead of square to a backdrop. The telescope vision and the vanishing priestess are trick joins.
Preservation
Only a fragment survives, 1 minute 36 seconds. The rest has not been found. The fragment was included in the 2008 Flicker Alley Méliès DVD set.
Notes
- Méliès is the astrologer, not the king.
- The set is built so the camera looks into the room at an angle, rare in Méliès, who usually faced his scenery flat.
- A 2008 filmography still listed the picture as lost. A fragment turned up in time for a DVD set that year.
- IMDb's trivia notes the fragment in Flicker Alley's Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896–1913).
- The Commons file is labeled an excerpt and runs 1 minute 36 seconds.
Scenes
- Pieces of a statue are stacked on a throne and become the prophetess.
- The telescope shows the king murdered on his throne. He pays with a bag of gold, and the astrologer's group laughs.
Also available
- Flicker Alley DVD: Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896–1913)
