Le Mélomane (1903)
Directed by Georges Méliès

Film Review

In this hilarious short film, Georges Méliès shows his talent both as a lithe comic performer and as a master of the cinematic art of his day.  Méliès uses the technique of multiple exposure (which he invented and used repeatedly in his films) almost to its limit - exposing the film no less than seven times to allow himself to appear seven times in the same frame.    This is accompanied by an extraordinary amount of trick splicing (another of the filmmaker's much-used devices), allowing Méliès to create some bizarre illusions (such as repeatedly pulling off his head).   Only a genius of Méliès' standing could have conceived such a mad film and have realised it with such technical and artistic brilliance.

Film Synopsis

A wild-looking musician is delighted to find five equally spaced cables strung horizontally between two telegraph poles.  This is just what he needed for his next magnum opus!  With a chorus of woman looking on in anticipation, the musician throws the large treble clef he has been carrying up onto the cables, and then follows this with multiple copies of his head, ripped from his own shoulders.  The latter form a succession of notes making up a melody which the musician then performs with the help of his chorus and a drummer.  Once they have completed this bizarre musical exhibition, the party goes on its way...