The Man with the Rubber Head (1901)

Original title

L'Homme à la tête de caoutchouc

Directed by

Georges Méliès

Genre

comedy film, fantasy film, silent film

Country

France

Runtime

3 min

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 171 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An apothecary uses a bellows to inflate a replica of his own head to giant size. He struggles to get his assistant to repeat the trick correctly.

whimsicalplayfulinventivesurreallightheartedsimpleold-fashioned

What happens

The Man with the Rubber Head (French: L'Homme à la tête en caoutchouc), also known as A Swelled Head, is a 1901 French silent trick film by Georges Méliès. The film stars Méliès himself as an apothecary who blows a copy of his own head up to enormous dimensions, but who is unable to get his assistant to perform the stunt as expertly. The special effect of the inflated head, made with a novel combination of purpose-built moving equipment and multiple exposures, evokes the modern close-up and enjoys an iconic place among Méliès's works. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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