The Mysterious Box

La Boîte à malice, sold in the United States as The Mysterious Box and in Britain as The Shallow Trick Box,[1] and also known as The Shallow Box Trick,[2] is a 1903 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 458–459 in its catalogues.[1]

The Mysterious Box
A frame from the film
Directed byGeorges Méliès
Production
company
Release date
  • 1903 (1903)
CountryFrance
LanguageSilent

Plot

In a scientific laboratory, aided by an assistant in a worker's apron, a magician in Renaissance garb makes two chairs, a carpet, and a woman in peasant dress appear. The magician spreads two sheets of glass across the chairs, and puts an almost flat box on top of the glass. He escorts the lady into the box, which she vanishes into, despite it being far too shallow to hold her.

The magician, removing the glass setup, sits with his assistant, and shows that the lady is still inside the box. He then jumps into the box, the assistant follows, and the box rolls away of its own accord.

Production

Méliès himself is the magician in the film, which uses substitution splices and multiple exposures to create its tricks.[3]

References
  1. Malthête, Jacques; Mannoni, Laurent (2008), L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès, Paris: Éditions de La Martinière, p. 345, ISBN 9782732437323
  2. Hammond, Paul (1974), Marvellous Méliès, London: Gordon Fraser, p. 142, ISBN 0900406380
  3. Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France, Bois d'Arcy: Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie, 1981, p. 122, ISBN 2903053073
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