The Four Troublesome Heads

1898 ""

The Four Troublesome Heads

7.5 | en | Fantasy

One of the greatest of black art pictures. The conjurer appears before the audience, with his head in its proper place. He then removes his head, and throwing it in the air, it appears on the table opposite another head, and both detached heads sing in unison. The conjurer then removes it a third time. You then see all three of his heads, which are exact duplicates, upon the table at one time, while the conjurer again stands before the audience with his head perfectly intact, singing in unison with the three heads upon the table. He closes the picture by bowing himself from the stage.

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7.5 | en | Fantasy , Comedy | More Info

Released: January. 01,1898 | Released Producted By: Star-Film , Country: France Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

Synopsis

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Cast

Georges Méliès

Director

Georges Méliès

Producted By

Star-Film ,

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Trailers & Images

Cast

Georges Méliès

as Conjurer

The Méliès Mystery A Trip to the Moon The Diabolical Church Window The Diabolic Tenant Whimsical Illusions Long Distance Wireless Photography The Hilarious Posters The Witch The Fugitive Apparitions

Reviews

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Georges Méliès proves once again, he's not only one of the most ground breaking filmmakers of all time, but also a pretty good magician.Basically, he's taking off head after head in this one and puts them on a table. And as if the audience wasn't entertained enough already by his Cerberus performance, he puts out a lute and plays some music. The three heads wonder what's going on and Méliès obviously not amused by their reactions smashes one after the other. Well.. you should have given them hands too if you wanted them to clap for you.In any case, it's a convincing performances and the master gesturing like a mad man throughout add nice entertainment value. For his next show, maybe create three torsos in the end?

Chrissie Georges Melies was a stage magician before turning to film, so it's no surprise that he plays a stage magician. But in his films, Georges does what no stage magician could possibly do.In "Un homme de tete", Melies repeatedly takes his head off and grows a new one three times, then gets out a banjo and sings a quartet with bodyless selves. The fluidity and aplomb with which he performs is nothing short of remarkable.While many early films are primarily interesting for their historical value, Melies' transcend mere museum pieces. Like Buster Keaton's silent films, they are timeless and retain their charm -- in this case, well over 100 years later.

Michael_Elliott Four Troublesome Heads, The (1898) *** (out of 4) aka Un Homme de teteClassic Meiles film has him playing a magician who removes his head three different times and lays them on a table where they naturally act up. This is perhaps one of the director's most popular films and it's easy to see why as the effects are pretty good and the film is just fun throughout. The highlight is without a doubt the scene where Melies removes him head and then throws it up into the air where it eventually falls back into place. I think the distraction of the heads could have been done better and with more imagination but overall this is another delightful film from the magical Melies.

tavm The Four Troublesome Heads is the first and earliest short shown in a fifteen short compilation called Melies Magic Show on an Arte Video DVD called Melies the Magician. It's basically Georges taking off his head three times, putting two on the table to the right of him and one on the table to the left. He then sings with the three heads. The end. Hardly much today but must of charmed audiences back then since this was the first time split screen was used and three times no less! Melies would eventually become a pioneer of various special effects that he would use again and again to great acclaim throughout France and the world. It's him that we owe for bringing fantasy to motion pictures. So if you're a Melies fan who hasn't seen his earliest works, seek this one out by all means.