''The Apparition, or Mr. Jones' Comical Experience With a Ghost'' (), also known as ''The Ghost and the Candle'' and as ''Apparitions'', is a 1903 French
silent trick film
In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects.
History
The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his works remain ...
by
Georges Méliès
Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...
.
Plot
An elderly traveler arrives at an inn. After making a pass at the hotel maid, he sits down and attempts to read by candlelight. To his astonishment, the candle refuses to cooperate, moving around the table and then growing to incredible height. Finally it moves so close that the newspaper catches fire.
From the fire comes an apparition of a woman, with whom the traveler is fascinated. As he kneels to court her, she changes into a grotesque, shrouded ghost, who dances in a blurry haze and walks right through the enraged traveler. The traveler tries to attack the ghost, but only manages to shatter his dinner tray, to the amusement of the hotel staff.
Production
Méliès plays the traveler in the film, which achieves its special effects with a combination of
pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...
,
soft focus
In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to uncorrected spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration which blurs fine texture in the image while reta ...
,
multiple exposure
In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be ide ...
s, and
substitution splice
The substitution splice or stop trick is a cinematic special effect in which filmmakers achieve an appearance, disappearance, or transformation by altering one or more selected aspects of the mise-en-scène between two shots
while maintaining t ...
s.
Release
''Le Revenant'' was sold by Méliès's
Star Film Company
The Manufacture de Films pour Cinématographes, often known as Star Film, was a French film production company run by the illusionist and film director Georges Méliès.
History
On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended the celebrated first publi ...
and is numbered 501–502 in its catalogues.
It was sold in the United States as ''The Apparition, or Mr. Jones' Comical Experience With a Ghost'' and in Britain as ''The Ghost and the Candle'';
[ a 2008 video release used the title ''Apparitions''.]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apparition (1903 film), The
French black-and-white films
Films directed by Georges Méliès
French silent short films
Trick films
Articles containing video clips
French ghost films