The Conquest of the Pole (1912)

Original title

À la conquête du pôle

Directed by

Georges Méliès

Genre

fantasy film, silent film, adventure film, science fiction film

Country

France

Runtime

33 min

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 52 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An international group of explorers sets off on an expedition to the North Pole. They run into a man-eating frost giant and a dangerous magnetic needle along the way.

whimsicalplayfulfantasticallightheartedinventivefast-pacedwhimsicalcomic

What happens

The Conquest of the Pole (French: À la conquête du pôle) is a 1912 French silent science fantasy trick film directed by and starring Georges Méliès. The film, loosely inspired by contemporary events and by Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires, follows the comic misadventures of an international group of explorers on an expedition to the North Pole, where they encounter a man-eating frost giant and a dangerous magnetic needle. The film, one of Méliès's last cinematic works, was released by Pathé Frères to critical acclaim in France and the United Kingdom, but was a box-office failure and contributed to Méliès's mounting financial difficulties. It continues to be seen as one of his masterpieces and is sometimes named as his greatest work. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• A Trip to the Moon (1902)
• Tom Thumb (1912)
• North Pole, Ahoy (1934)
• The Impossible Voyage (1904)
• Love and Science (1912)
• Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants (1902)
• In the Bushes (1912)