Before the turn of the twentieth century, before the nickelodeon, even before the first cinemas, Georges Méliès began making movies.. Directing, editing, prod

An orphan and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy train station. He desperately believes a broken automaton will make his dreams come true. But when his wo

"Best moving pictures I ever saw." Thus did one Vaudeville theater manager describe Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon [Le Voyage dans la lune], after it was

The warlocks and ghosts of fantasy film haunt our popular culture, but the genre has too long been ignored by critics. This comprehensive critical survey of fan

This work revisits the golden age of theatrical magic and silent film to reveal how professional magicians shaped the early history of cinema. The author treats