For a long time, there have been many Méliès fans that claim to have seen this short film from 1897, the beautifully stencil-colored, 2-minute "L'hallucination de l'alchimiste". Sadly, these rumors are incorrect, for a simple reason: the film that is all over YouTube and on a DVD of Melies's films is really just a second, shortened print of Melies's "The Mysterious Retort" from 1906. The fact that even film historians misidentified a print of an already existing film is astounding: not only was stencil-color (not hand-color, as others say) not a process innovated yet in 1897, the actual "An Hallucinated Alchemist" had only one number in the catalog (indicating only a minute long film, not two minutes) and above all, Méliès didn't yet know how do to superimpositions in 1897. It is then no wonder that this misidentified print seems far too advanced for the year, even for a Méliès production.
As for the original film, little is known about it excepting the fact it supposedly featured an anthropomorphic star with a huge face and five female heads with people coming out of its mouth. A sad thing it has not been truly rediscovered yet, considering this description alone is enough to make one hope it has survived all these years. The misidentified print available online is beautiful and brings to life the wonderful effects of the black-and-white "The Mysterious Retort", but it is no "An Hallucinated Alchemist, and any reviews on this IMDb page are to be dismissed as just reviews of that 1906 film.
As for the original film, little is known about it excepting the fact it supposedly featured an anthropomorphic star with a huge face and five female heads with people coming out of its mouth. A sad thing it has not been truly rediscovered yet, considering this description alone is enough to make one hope it has survived all these years. The misidentified print available online is beautiful and brings to life the wonderful effects of the black-and-white "The Mysterious Retort", but it is no "An Hallucinated Alchemist, and any reviews on this IMDb page are to be dismissed as just reviews of that 1906 film.