A trip to the moon

On Saturday night, the wife and I went to see a screening of the color restoration of Georges Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" - a 109-year old picture of which no surviving color prints existed, until one was miraculously discovered in 2000. Restoration - both because of its complexity and because of a lack of adequate technology - took over ten years. But it was worth it! Like many people, I had become aware of Melies primarily from watching "Hugo." That film, as good as it was, though, did not adequately recapture the magic that we saw on the screen Saturday night.

Melies' style is fantastical and magical. Melies made no attempt to represent reality, but was more of a stage magician and artist. His sensibility was wildly imaginative and evocative. The energy in the film is manic and contagious. The film was inspired by Jules Verne's novel "From the Earth to the Moon," and captures a group of astronomers planning and executing a rocket ship trip to the moon - ultimately landing in the eye of the moon's face - in one of the most famous images in film history. The scientists encounter hostile life on the Moon and are ultimately forced to escape back to their capsule and return to earth, where the capsule parachutes into the ocean where the scientists are rescued.

I strongly recommend checking out this film, as well as Melies' work in general. A dvd of the colorized version of the film, together with the fantastic new soundtrack by AIR and a documentary on the film and the restoration process are available now at http://www.flickeralley.com/