This 1902 silent French classic is a landmark in world cinematic history. The movie was lost and rediscovered in the late 1920s when Melies's importance was recognized. In 1993, a hand-colored print was found incomplete and it is this version that was restored and screened at Cannes in 2011. The black-and-white prints were colored by hand to fill in the missing scenes. To be honest, the coloring was a little distracting, kind of trippy as the shades kept changing ever so slightly. The restoration also features strange music by the French band Air, which is very twenty-first century. It did not match 1905 at all, but it did fall in line with the psychedelic colors. I also saw the pure black and white version, featuring a piano score and some awkward narration.
What is the significance of this film? It pioneered entertaining narrative storytelling in film, primitive special effects, expensive production value, and "long form" movies (~15 minutes). The most famous scene is one in which the camera seemingly zooms into a moon with a face. The special effect is a mechanical rigging system in which he moved the moon toward the camera. Some substitution splicing lets the capsule rocket ship magically/fantastically appear in the moon's eye. This is all brought together by a very overly theatrical cast that sort of scrambles about the set in a comical fashion. All filmmakers owe everything to Melies and this film.
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