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An Exercise In Nonsense

Admirable film.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A man goes to a house and begins to sing and play his guitar. A man, probably the father of the one he is serenading, comes out and throws him off his property. Not to be deterred, the guy comes back. This time, a beautiful lady, sitting on a crescent moon await him and he jumps up and joins her. Meanwhile, it is not good for the guy who mistreated him. He is aged and thrown from his house. This one is interesting although much of it makes no sense.

"A Moonlight Serenade" is a somewhat atypical single-scene film from Georges Méliès, the early cinema magician known for his wacky trick films and more elaborate féeries (fairy films). This one features Pierrot, who has long been especially famous in French theatre, as well as motion pictures from the Théâtre Optique animation screenings of "Pauvre Pierrot" by Charles-Émile Reynaud at the end of the 19th Century to Marcel Carné's highly acclaimed, three-hours "Children of Paradise" (1945).For this film, Méliès seems to have hired a professional mime to play Pierrot. The supposed-hero Pierrot wakes a man from his sleep by playing his guitar and, in general, causing commotion outside the man's home. And, for the rest of the scene, this landowner is mercilessly terrorized, including by magically being aged suddenly to the point that his servants no longer recognize him, refuse to allow him in his own home, and beat him when he tries to enter. Pierrot, meanwhile, seems to dream up the goddess Phoebe perched on a crescent Moon, where he leaps up to join her. The Moon is then replaced by a circular vignette of a close-up of an eye. This is a rare instance of something of a close-up shot from Méliès, who usually kept everything at the distance of the proscenium arch. Another example of such an exception for a trick effect is "The Man with the Rubber Head" (1901). The close-up of an eye also has a precedent in another's film, George Albert Smith's "Grandma's Reading Glass" (1900). Finally, there's a comical man-in-the-moon face, a la "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), who laughs at the misfortune of the landowner.

Moonlight Serenade, A (1904) *** (out of 4) aka Au clair de la lune ou Pierrot malheureux A lonely man goes to the house of his love to play guitar for her but (what appears to be) her father kicks him out. Soon the moon and its princess come towards the man and offers him something better. This is a pretty good little fantasy from the French master that has some funny moments with the father as well as some nice special effects. The moon from the director's A Trip to the Moon makes an appearance here with a few slight alterations. The highlight of the film is certainly when the man is able to jump on the moon and be taken away.