A Trip to Mars
A scientist floats to Mars and is captured by Martians in this early American short film. Not a masterpiece, but a well made and intriguing little film. 5/10 A Trip […]
Author Archives
Janne Wass
Janne is a journalist and magazine editor from Finland, who in his spare time runs the science fiction blog Scifist.
An Interplanetary Marriage
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (6/10) Move over Aelita! This 1910 short film about a scientist and a girl from Mars getting married on the moon is Italy’s first science fiction film. It is […]
A Trip to Jupiter
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (9/10) While derivative of Georges Méliès’ space voyages, Segundo de Chomon’s silent short from 1909 is a tour de force of innovative camera use, seamless special effects and stunning […]
Long Distance Wireless Photography
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (5/10) A fun and well-made 1908 short by Georges Méliès about a fantastic camera projecting images in real time of the subjects’ real selves, this French one-reeler mostly rehashes […]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
No rating: Lost film The first ever adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1908 in many ways marked the beginning for Hollywood. Although filmed in Chicago, it was […]
A Message from Mars
No rating: lost film New Zealand’s first science fiction film is also the first ever film involving a Martian and an alien visitation to Earth. The 1903 movie was based […]
The Electric Hotel
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (8/10) Stop-motion animation with live actors has probably never been done as well as in Segundo de Chomon’s 1908 film The Electric Hotel. But this tale of a tourist […]
An Excursion to the Moon
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (6/10) In 1908 Spanish master filmmaker Segundo de Chomon directed a carbon copy of Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon. The result is professional, but uninspired. An Excursion […]
A Little Jules Verne
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (4/10) Gaston Velle’s 1907 film is a fairly entertaining underwater fantasy short, made hastily to cash in on Georges Méliès epic Under the Seas. Velle directs the imitation professionally, […]
Under the Seas
NO RATING; FILM INCOMPLETE Georges Méliès third science fiction epic (1907) is the first film based on Jules Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, even if it is rather […]
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
In search of a lost epic – whatever happened to Wallace McCutcheon’s ambitious first ever adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? The American 1905 answer to Georges […]
The ‘?’ Motorist
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (6/10) Walter R. Booth’s short film is a subversive and funny trick film about a couple of mad motorists that speed through the British streets, toppling police officers, riding […]
A Voyage Around a Star
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (4/10) An astronomer travels to woo the lady in stars by enclosing himself in a soap bubble in this 1906 short film by Gaston Velle. A Voyage Around a […]
The Moon Lover
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (7/10) A drunken romantic reaches for the moon in this warmly whimsical 1905 pseudo-sci-fi film by French trick filmer Gaston Velle. Clearly inspired by Georges Méliès, but with a […]
The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship
∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗ (3/10) The first American science fiction film was made in 1902 is shows the comic book character Happy Hooligan flying a balloon-bicycle over New York. A crude and technically […]
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