Underplayed Gems

Excursion to the Moon (1908)

Excursion to the Moon poster
Original title
Excursion dans la lune
Directed by
Segundo de Chomón
Genre
comedy film, fantasy film, silent film, science fiction film
Country
France
Runtime
7 min
Rating
5.3 of 10 from 30 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A group of astronomers build a rocket and travel to the moon. They meet strange moon creatures and bring one back to Earth.

whimsicalplayfullightheartedcolorfulvisualsimpleclassicsilent

What happens

Excursion to the Moon (French: Excursion dans la lune) is a 1908 French silent trick film directed by Segundo de Chomón. The production was supervised by Ferdinand Zecca, designed by V. Lorant-Heilbronn, and released by Pathé Frères. The film is an unauthorized remake, and an almost shot-by-shot copy, of Georges Méliès's 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. The film follows Méliès's scenario closely and includes many of its features, with some variations: for example, the Selenites are not vulnerable to umbrellas, but rather appear and disappear at will; the capsule lands inside the Man in the Moon's open mouth rather than hitting its eye; and the Selenite who returns to Earth is a "dancing moon-maiden" who is betrothed at the end of the film to one of the astronomers. This film has occasionally been misidentified as a work by Méliès. Of the film's 180 meters, 72 were colorized using a Pathé stencil process. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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