A Trip to the Moon Quotes

K In one of his greatest films, A TRIP TO THE MOON (Le Voyage dans la lune), the moon harbors a grimacing man in the moon and the stars a bull's-eyes studded with pretty faces of music hall girls.

E *], "Imaginary voyages," Ch. 4 of George Méliès (Manchester, U. K.: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 120.

E In its depiction of the ] of a faraway place and ] encounter with ] forms, Le Voyage dans la lune can easily be read as a ] of ] ].

K *], "Basic Concepts," Ch. 2 of Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1997; orig. 1960), p. 33.

E Made in 1902, Le Voyage dans la lune was the film that first brought ] international fame—and it is the film that, even today, is the most widely recognized of Méliès's works.  At first, however, he had difficulty persuading fairground exhibitors to ] it because of the high price resulting from the film's lavish production costs; so he lent the film to exhibitors free of charge for a single showing, ] that its ] with ] would convince exhibitors that they would recoup his asking price.

E Subtending this film is a ] of social hierarchy: the interplanetary explorers stint at the Selenites court mirrors the hierarchical structure depicted at the scientific congress, as Barbenfouillis presides over his scientific disciples, the power conferred upon him by his intellectual prowess as ] and ] as that invoked by the crustacean king.  Le Voyage dans la lune ultimately shows that, rather than being safely out of this world, the differences encountered by the intrepid explorers were very close to home.

E *], "Imaginary voyages," Ch. 4 of George Méliès (Manchester, U. K.: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 120.

Quote from the film *Phrase appears on the base of a commemorative statue of Professor Barbenfouillis.

A The middle section of Le Voyage dans la lune, where the scientists actually explore the moon, may break no new ground in its display of trick effects and spectacular decors, yet that hardly detracts from its achievement.  The rocket sinks below the ] surface, for instance, while the ] seems to rise in the far background sky, a "]" of celestrial bodies hovers over the ] ], ending in a shower of ], and Selenites keep ] in puffs of ].

Quote from the film *Adapted from ]'s ], Book I, line 145–6:  …Labor omnia vicit / improbus.

Quote from the film **"Steady work overcame all things.

M *], "Caution," Catalogue of the Star Film Company (1902).

J *], Film Sequels (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009).

A *], "The Cinema of Attractions, 1896–1904," Ch. 3 of The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema 1896–1914 (Updated and Expanded Edition, Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1994), p. 72.

E ] also created edited sequences by breaking scenes down into several discrete shots, sometimes resulting in an effect of rapid montage, as in Le Voyage dans la lune/A Trip to the Moon (1902), in which the rocket's descent to Earth is shown in a four-shot sequence lasting two-and-a-half seconds.

E Le Voyage dans la lune was not only the first ] film, but also the first cinematic ] of the ].

A As the longest and most expensive of the early féeries, Le Voyage dans la lune constitutes not only a culmination of ]'s work but also a significant advance.  It mixes ] and ] devices in both old and new ways, it privileges clous f spectacle by means of extended narrative continuity, and, surprisingly, it experiments with dividing up and reconstituting the autonomous shot-scene.

E *], "Méliès does tricks," Ch. 1 of George Méliès (Manchester, U. K.: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 33.

E *], "Imaginary voyages," Ch. 4 of George Méliès (Manchester, U. K.: Manchester University Press, 2000), pp. 125–126.

R *], Public Affairs Officer, Office of Space Flight, (25 February 1985).

E *], "Imaginary voyages," Ch. 4 of George Méliès (Manchester, U. K.: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 120.

Quote from the film *] phrase meaning "] ] ].

A *], "The Cinema of Attractions, 1896–1904," Ch. 3 of The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema 1896–1914 (Updated and Expanded Edition, Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1994), p. 71.

M A great number of French, English and American manufacturers of films who are searching for novelties, but lack the ingenuity to produce them, have found it easier and more economical to advertise their poor copies as their own original conceptions.  This accounts for the simultaneous appearance in several issues of a well known New York paper of advertisements of the celebrated Trip to the Moonby four or five different concerns, each pretending to be its creator.  All these pretensions are false.  The Trip to the Moon as well as Gulliver's Travels, The Astronomer's Dream, Cincerella, Red Riding Hood, Blue Beard, Joan of Arc Christmas Dream etc., are the personal creations of Mr. George Melies, who himself conceived the ideas, painted the accessories and acted on the stage.In opening a factory and offices in New York we are prepared and determined energetically to pursue all ] and pirates.  We will not speak twice; we will act.

R Dear Mr. Levy:Your recent letter to Mr. James Beggs asks whether the Apollo (and previous era spacecraft) "splashdown" recovery technique owes anything to ] film Le Voyage dans la lune.  Although the similarities are striking, the recovery technique used for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules was dictated more by the then-current engineering capabilities than any imaginative interplay between the engineers and Monsieur Méliès.

J The film—]'s 400th production—cost him an extravagant 10,000 francs, his most erxpensive project to date.  It became a hit around the world almost instantly, largely because of its pioneering special effects and innovative filmmaking techniques, which included double exposures, dissolves and fades, and elaborate sets contrived to depict ] spaces.  Audiences had never seen anything like it before.  It was the newest thing in town, playing at some venues for months.