Tit for Tat
About Tit for Tat
Méliès, as a magician, takes off his own head, sets it in a glass box on a stool, and grows a new one. He lights a cigarette and blows smoke at the boxed head. The head rises over him and dumps water on him.
Cast & crew
More about Tit for Tat
Georges Méliès directed and plays the magician. Star Film numbers 540–541. The French title is Un prêté pour un rendu (une bonne farce avec ma tête). The American catalogue title is Tit for Tat, or a Good Joke With My Head. The British title is "Tit for Tat"—The head in a case. Effects are substitution splices and multiple exposures. Wikidata times it at 2 minutes. Wikipedia groups it with Méliès's other multiplied-head films.
Themes
Making
Méliès used a splice to remove the head and a second exposure to float it, the same toolkit as his other detached-head films.
Technique
Substitution splices remove and regrow the head. A multiple exposure lets the boxed head share the shot with Méliès.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A paper print is held at the Library of Congress. A moving image is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- A paper print survives at the Library of Congress.
- The payback is water from the severed head, not a second trick from the magician.
- The head is boxed on a stool before the new head grows.
- Multiple exposure is what lets both heads share the frame.
Scenes
- The head sits in a glass box while a new one grows.
- Cigarette smoke hits the boxed face.
- The head levitates and pours water on Méliès.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Un prêté pour un rendu (1904).webm)
- Library of Congress paper print
