One Hundred years ago, today, Science Fiction film was born with the debut of Le Voyage dans la lune, or “A Trip to the Moon” by Georges. The special effects are mighty innovative for their time and the story is a loose amalgam of two popular books From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells.
This stunning black and white movie has many different versions available. Originally running at around 14 minutes when displayed at 16 frames per second, which was industry standard at the time. This version running a bit quicker to smooth the action.
As with most things from that era, there is a seedy story behind the finished product. It would seem that Georges Méliès had every intention of showing the movie around the United States but Thomas Edison’s film technicians made an illegal copy and distributed it all over the country. And this was well before bit torrent, or Napster, so who could the studio’s blame? As a result, and despite the wide acclaim of the movie itself The Studio eventually went bankrupt.
Want to watch the movie? Check after the break and it shall be yours complete with classical music score.
Big thanks to @thinkgeek for bringing this to my attention via facebook earlier today
By the by, the more I read about Thomas Edison the less I like about him as a person. Don’t know if that s just me. This movie was also the inspiration for the Smashing Pumpkins video Tonight Tonight, seriously watch that video after you see the movie, so awesome