The Spider and the Butterfly

1909 HorrorFantasy 2 minutes Directed by Georges Méliès

About The Spider and the Butterfly

What remains of Papillon fantastique is a fragment. A magician brings on a butterfly woman and a woman posed in a star. He drops off to sleep. The star woman becomes a spider and pulls the butterfly into her web.

Cast & crew

More about The Spider and the Butterfly

Georges Méliès directed and plays the magician. Star Film sold it as numbers 1530–1533. The release length is given as 80 meters.

Themes

  • A magic act that turns on the magician
  • Transformation
  • Sleep and the trick gone on without him
  • magician
  • butterfly woman
  • spider
  • web
  • fragment

Background

A 1909 Star Film trick subject, sold by the meter like the rest of Méliès's catalogue that year.

Preservation

Presumed lost as of 2008. A fragment was found in time to go into the 2010 Flicker Alley DVD Georges Méliès: Encore.

Notes

  • The French title is Papillon fantastique, not L'Araignée d'or.
  • Star Film numbers are 1530–1533.
  • As of 2008 the picture was treated as lost. A fragment turned up in time for a 2010 DVD.

Scenes

  • The star woman turns into a spider and drags the butterfly into the web.

Also available

  • Flicker Alley DVD: Georges Méliès: Encore (2010)

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