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Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This little atmospheric short is about a couple of people in Egypt who are visited by a ghostly skeletal creature who rises out of a coffin that they have been transporting. Georges Méliès shows here once again that he was not only adept at visual trickery but was able to present it in an interesting way. The Egyptian setting is a nice touch and adds some exotic ambiance. The skeletal creature is manipulated in ways that are visually interesting. It dances around and is covered in sheets making it appear like a ghostly apparition. It rises high into the air and disappears into the ground. It even latterly turns into a woman. Of course, it's all very gimmicky but early films did not really tell stories at this point in history and Méliès did imbue his trick films with a definite charm. Le Monstre does sort of come off as a magician's show in many ways, but like a lot of his films it has been given a personality and the exotic flavour doesn't do it any harm at all.

Monster, The (1903) *** (out of 4) aka Monstre, Le This here seems to be an early take on the Frankenstein story and was made seven years before Edison's official version. An Egyptian prince has recently lost his wife so he brings a man with her coffin to try and bring her from the dead. This is a fun little film that Melies manages to bring a lot of his magic to the screen as well as an overall playful attitude. When they pull the skeleton out of the coffin and start doing their magic, the skeleton begins to dance in a very playful matter before the Prince tries to her one final kiss. The magic tricks are pretty good with the last one being the best where the Prince goes to give his wife a kiss but something goes wrong. The back of the stage is done up in an Egyptian manor and looks quite nice. Fans of the horror genre will certainly want to check this one out since there are various early horror elements. The film includes spoken narration.

With an egyptian backdrop and egyptian costumes, two people enter shot, one carries a coffin. A skeleton rises out of it while the man's back is turned. The man sits the skeleton down and dresses it with some white sheets. The skeleton begins dancing around riotously! The man performs various tricks for the other figure with the skeleton, making it turn into a woman, then making the woman turn back into a skeleton. Melies was a magician and a cinema innovator. He built his own cameras and studio, and is much more a descendent of movies than the Lumieres, who were more technicians than artists. Playfulness, inventiveness and creativity abounds in Melies. Lots of fun from the most creative man in the first years of cinema, Georges Melies.

Two minute show about a magician who takes a skeleton, and brings it to life. When he throws it at the poor girl who sits besides and watches in horror, the movie reaches its top. The sfx of this movie consists of very much noticeable clips, but it's really entertaining for those interested in the history of movies.