“Hugo” Fans, Watch This Restoration
French illusionist-turned-filmmaker George Méliès, whom Ben Kingsley played in Martin Scorsese’s 11-time Oscar-nominated film “Hugo,” was a cinematic pioneer to say the least. Wildly prolific, he produced 531 short films between 1896 and 1913. The greatest of these was his 14-minute opus “Le Voyage Dans la Lune.” For the groundbreaking 1902 silent film, Méliès took inspiration from Jules Verne’s “From the Earth to the Moon” and H.G. Wells’ “The First Men in the Moon.” Many years later, “Le Voyage” inspired The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight,†which took home six VMAs in 1996.
Now, in a breathtaking fusion of music and moving image, “Le Voyage” has emerged from a meticulous eight-year restoration project in vivid color and with a soundtrack by Parisian electropop duo Air (The Virgin Suicides soundtrack). Above, take in a portion of the visionary’s otherworldly spectacle.
