Hitchcoc
I would retitle this the not very funny posters. It's the same old idea of a set of eight posters, with various subjects, coming to life. It's just that the things they do aren't very interesting. They dump stuff on people. They fight. Melies came a long way in his films. A few of these later ones just don't cut the mustard.
Michael_Elliott
Hilarious Posters, The (1906) *** (out of 4)aka Les Affiches en goguetteThis here remains one of Melies best known works due in large part to it being shown on countless compilations as well as various free sites (like Youtube). The film has a billboard showing off various people and it quickly comes to life before going back to the billboard. In a twist, the billboard jumps back to life so that those on it can throw things at the man making money off of it. This type of trick show really isn't anything new from Melies but it still works simply because of the charm. The movie runs a quick three-minutes and manages to get a few nice laughs but the technology of the trick shot is pretty low-key especially when compared to some of the work the director was doing even earlier than this.
MartinHafer
Director Georges Méliès was well-known for his absolutely astounding creativity and camera tricks in the very, very early years of films. No other director came close to him in these respects and he is my favorite early film maker. While this is a super-original and clever film, I must admit that the camera tricks look pretty primitive compared to his other works. But, considering just how funny the film it, I can forgive this.The short film starts with a couple guys putting up some posters. Then after they leave, the posters come to life and some even leave their frames and play pranks on each other AND unsuspecting passers by. This ultimately leads to a funny showdown with the police. A cute and amiable little film.If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.
Snow Leopard
This short feature is based on some very amusing ideas by Georges Méliès, although they do not entirely come off due to slightly imperfect execution. It's still worth seeing.The movie starts with a wall full of posters for various entertainers, which become the source of a series of antics involving passers-by. The story that follows is clever, but the visual effects in this one are below the standard you come to expect from Méliès. Instead of the usual smooth dissolves and careful background continuity, the special effects here unfortunately come across as a little clumsy.It helps a lot that the story really is a funny one, with some clever ideas, and is worth watching. It's just too bad that the technical side of it was not quite up to the visual wizard's usual standard, because it could have been a truly fine feature if the special effects had worked better.
AD
