Tit for Tat (1904)

Original title

Un prêté pour un rendu

Directed by

Georges Méliès

Genre

comedy film, silent film

Country

France

Runtime

2 min

Rating

5.9 of 10 from 19 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A magician performs tricks with his own head. The film uses early special effects to create funny and impossible situations.

playfulwhimsicallightheartedsurrealfast-pacedinventivecomedic

What happens

Un prêté pour un rendu (une bonne farce avec ma tête), sold in the United States as Tit for Tat, or a Good Joke With My Head and in Britain as "Tit for Tat"—The head in a case, is a 1904 French silent trick film by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 540–541 in its catalogues. Méliès plays the magician in the film, one of several in his oeuvre involving multiplied heads. The special effects are created with substitution splices and multiple exposures. A paper print of the film survives at the Library of Congress. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• A Wager Between Two Magicians, or Jealous of Myself (1904)
• The Imperceptible Transmutations (1904)
• The Shadow Lady (1904)
• The Living Playing Cards (1904)
• The Four Troublesome Heads (1898)
• Uncle Rube's Birthday (1904)
• The Astonishing Frame (1904)