A Trip to the Moon

For other uses, see A Trip to the Moon (disambiguation).
"Le voyage dans la lune" redirects here. For the opéra-féerie, see Le voyage dans la lune (opera-féerie). For the album, see Le voyage dans la lune (album).

A Trip to the Moon
The landing on the eye of the Moon, the movie's most iconic scene
Directed byGeorges Méliès
Written byGeorges Méliès
Produced byGeorges Méliès
Starring
Cinematography
  • Théophile Michault
  • Lucien Tainguy
Edited byGeorges Méliès
Production
company
Release date
  • 1 September 1902 (1902-09-01)[1]
Running time
  • 260 metres/845 feet[2]
  • 18 minutes (12 frame/s)[3]
  • 16 minutes (14 frame/s)[3]
  • 14 minutes (16 frame/s)[3]
  • 9 minutes (24 frame/s)[3]
CountryFrance
LanguageSilent
Budget₣10,000

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le voyage dans la lune)[a] is a 1902 French science-fiction adventure trick film written, directed and produced by Georges Méliès. Inspired by Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon and its 1870 sequel Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite. Méliès leads an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers as the main character Professor Barbenfouillis.

Although the film disappeared into obscurity after Méliès's retirement from the film industry, it was rediscovered around 1930, when Méliès's importance to the history of cinema was beginning to be recognised by film devotees. An original hand-colored print was discovered in 1993 and restored in 2011.

A Trip to the Moon was ranked 84th among the 100 greatest films of the 20th century by The Village Voice.[6] The film remains Méliès' best known, and the moment when the capsule lands in the moon's eye remains one of the most iconic and frequently referenced images in the history of cinema.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Technicolor186 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Hammond, Paul (1974), Marvellous Méliès, London: Gordon Fraser, p. 141, ISBN 0-900406-38-0
  3. ^ a b c d Frame rate calculations produced using the following formula: 845 feet / ((n frame/s * 60 seconds) / 16 frames per foot) = x. See Elkins, David E. (2013), "Tables & Formulas: Feet Per Minute for 35 mm, 4-perf Format", The Camera Assistant Manual Web Site (companion site for The Camera Assistant's Manual [Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2013]), retrieved 8 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference EzraSatire was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Malthête & Mannoni 2008, p. 344
  6. ^ Village Voice Critics' Poll (2001), "100 Best Films", filmsite.org, AMC, archived from the original on 13 June 2016, retrieved 2 August 2013


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