Author Archive: Retro

Satan appears in a convent and takes the guise of a priest. Before long he is causing all manner of perturbation and despair.

An energetic Russian Cossack dancer who knows how to impress his audience with his extraordinary set of moves has a trick up his sleeve designed to capture applause.

Denied a handout, a witch exacts vengeance by cursing the village well.

A thief attempts to steal treasure from the tomb of Delphi when a spirit appears. He brings two statues come to life, who in turn transform to thief’s head into that of a donkey.

eleased under different titles in France–and not surprisingly, often confused with its analogous 1896 movie, “Le Manoir du Diable (1896)”–Georges Méliès’ Haunted Castle is considered, by all means, a remake.

An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx. The prince promises him a vast fortune if the dervish will only give him the opportunity of gazing once more upon the features of his wife. The dervish accepts the offer. He brings in from a neighboring tomb the receptacle containing the remains of the princess. He opens it and removes the skeleton, which he places upon the ground close beside him. Then, turning to the moon and raising his arms outstretched toward it, he invokes the moon to give back life to her who is no more. The skeleton begins to move about, becomes animated, and arises. The dervish puts it upon a bench and covers it with a white linen; a masque conceals its ghostly face. At a second invocation the skeleton begins again to move, arises, and performs a weird [...]

This picture depicts the eruption of the volcano by which over 30,000 souls were hurled into eternity. The numerous explosions which took place during the eruption are plain to be seen. Thousands upon thousands of tons of molten lava, sand, rocks and steam are thrown high in the air and descend with crushing force upon the unfortunate inhabitants of the doomed city of St. Pierre. This is the worst calamity which occurred since a similar eruption by Mt. Vesuvius when Pompeii was destroyed.

As an elegant maestro of mirage and delusion drapes his beautiful female assistant with a gauzy textile, much to our amazement, the lady vanishes into thin air.

Dramatized re-enactments of the events of the Dreyfus-affair from 1894 to 1899.