User Reviews

"The Magic Table" is a funny little silent film but it does have its problems. First, no one seems sure who made it, though some sources think it was the Spanish/French director Segundo de Chomón. Second, the existing copy is a mess--very scratchy, rather shaky and, perhaps, incomplete. Still, it is worth seeing and appears to have at least been inspired by the work of Georges Méliès. This is because by stopping and starting the camera, things appear and disappear as well as change--pretty nifty tricks for the time--though very quaint when seen today. In this case, a family tries to sit down to eat but the table keeps growing, shrinking and appearing and disappearing. It's all very silly and might make you smile. Decent stuff for 1903--if that is when this film was made...but who is sure?!

I would have kept the review of this film on this page that I've already written, but I have blotted that out for a very simple reason: the fact that the film everyone has seen entitled "The Magic Table" which is said to be by director Segundo de Chomón is in fact not this film nor a separate listing for a 1908 Chomón short under the same title, which also has a review. This one-minute trick film is actually the work of Georges Méliès himself, mis-labelled everywhere as the former's work. How I or anyone else fell for this is unimaginable. The main character looks exactly like Méliès (as he is indeed Méliès) and the set reaches nowhere near the more elaborate sets Pathé could afford. In general, the movie carries the exact style of the Cinemagician and it is no wonder I considered it an outright copy. The short is actually entitled "A Dinner Under Difficulties" and exists in the Database also. Had I not read the review on that page correcting everyone's assumptions, I would never have seen the light.