User Reviews

Georges Méliès delighted in using mischievous black devils, or imps, to orchestrate the chaos of many of his short films. As we've already observed from his 1904 effort, 'Sorcellerie culinaire / The Cook in Trouble,' these imps were the perfect means to show off the cinematic magician's hectic but fun use of quick cuts and substitutions, usually at the expense of an unfortunate human (played by Méliès himself).

In this film, a traveller seeking lodging at an inn inadvertently disgruntles a black imp who had hoped to have the bed all to himself. Using his mischievous powers, and to the traveller's utter dismay, the imp transports furniture across the room, chairs appear and disappear and, finally, the bed is inexplicably set alight. The owners of the room arrive just a moment after the imp abolishes any traces of his trickery, and the traveller is escorted out as though he is a crazy-man. Satisfied with his triumphant eviction of the man, the devious black devil settles back onto the bed and stretches out for a nap.

Fast, frenetic and, most importantly, a load of fun, 'The Black Imp' is one of Georges Méliès' most entertaining shorts.

Random friday night, you just wanna hang in a hotel room, watch some anime, drink absinthe, and have an overall good time. But then suddenly, a man in a black bodysuit appears to ruin the mood, disarrange and breed the furniture, or just phase jump around to be a mild inconvenience. I hate when this happens...

That said, I have to disagree with the other reviewers: in this very case, the victim here is probably the black devil. Assuming he just hanging around there, not paying a rent and all... very prejudiced, and I have no business with you. I'm sure he is a good guy, harmlessly practicing his Death Note cosplay.

Georges Melies filmed brief sketches many times like he did here with The Black Imp; it's simply an excuse for Melies to display his jump-cutting tricks, which are executed almost to perfection. For the time though, it must have been hilarious. Here a man tries to get some rest at an inn only to slowly discover his room is haunted by a mischievous imp. The imp wreaks havoc with the furniture, multiplying it at will so it appears the chairs are following the man like an invisible man, very clever indeed. The film makes it clear near the end the man has dreamed this whole thing up while receiving assistance from several individuals; meanwhile, the imp returns to take some rest in the man's bed. The whole thing is similar to many other Melies' films in that it's a metaphor for the creator (Melies) interacting with the audience, but it's still a delight. *** of 4 stars.

This is one of the very best of Georges Melies's many 'trick' films. Interestingly, the English-language prints of this film render its title as 'The Black Imp' rather than the more accurate 'The Black Devil' ... probably because English-language audiences would interpret the word 'devil' to mean THE Devil, and presumably His Satanic Majesty has got more important things to do than just fool about with furniture.

The major item in Melies's cinematic bag of tricks was the jump cut -- in which the camera's motion is stopped while an object or person is moved to a new position, then the camera is restarted -- so that something or somebody suddenly appears, disappears, changes position, or switches place with something else. More than fifty years after Melies, this same camera trick was still being used in such sophisticated fare as 'Bewitched' and 'Lost in Space'. One problem with the jump cut is that the actors on screen who aren't part of the transformation often have difficulty staying absolutely motionless during the transition ... so, the effect of the jump cut is often diluted because somebody who wasn't supposed to move has unintentionally 'jumped' to another position, impairing the illusion. This happened far too often in Melies's films. Even if all the actors behave themselves, there's often a shift in the lighting or some other unintended change which calls attention to the jump in the film.

SLIGHT SPOILERS. One reason why 'The Black Devil' delights me is because the jump cuts are unusually seamless. There are none of those lurching transitions which ruin so many jump cuts. Also, Melies has used the gimmick much more imaginatively here than in several of his other films. It's simple enough to use the jump cut to make one object appear, disappear or move by itself. In 'The Black Devil', very amusingly, Melies uses camera sorcery to make a long series of identical chairs appear in rapid-fire succession from the same point in midair. Unexpected and hilarious!

I was especially impressed by one particular jump cut, due to the physical difficulties for the actor involved. We see a bearded man attempt to put his coat in a drawer while the Black Devil keeps magically rearranging the furniture. At one point, the bureau materialises on top of the table, forcing the poor bearded bloke to climb onto the table to open a bureau drawer. Instantly, the bureau and the table both move to other locations ... leaving the man in midair for just a fraction of an instant before gravity claims him.

Now, think about what was involved in that shot. In order to get the effect, the actor had to suspend himself several feet above the floor while the camera operator checked his lighting, and so forth. The man must remain suspended until the camera starts, then he must fall immediately. If he dangles in midair for even a second, we'll have time to see how the trick is done. Thanks to the miracle of Rewind, I was able to replay this section of the film several times, until at last I saw how the actor was able to keep himself suspended till the crucial moment.

Elsewhere in this same short film, we see part of the scenery put on fire, deliberately. I was quite surprised by this, as stage sets (and inexpensive film sets) are often highly flammable, and an intentional flame can rapidly get out of control. But Melies shows a sure hand here, and nothing happens which isn't in the script.

Although Georges Melies's films are typically charming and funny, modern viewers will often easily spot the joins and junctures where his stage tricks are trundled into place. 'The Black Devil', refreshingly, is a seamless piece of screen magic, and it's still quite funny after all these years. My rating: 10 out of 10.

This four-minute movie from 110 years ago is about Georges Méliès (pretty much in the middle of his career) meeting the devil in a hotel room. First, only some weird occurrences happen, mostly involving chairs that move although nobody is there, but in the end the devil himself appears and starts fighting the man. Of course, only one can win. And that's the devil as he simply sets fire to the bad and the hotel's employees come and bring the man away thinking he did it. A mean movie, but it fits to the devil. I wonder if people were offended or even scared watching this as the perception of Satan was certainly very different at that point than now in the 21st century. In any case, Méliès certainly was not as this is really 100% comedy here. Still, I have to say I did not find it particularly funny and Méliès has done better. Not recommended.