Name: L'enchanteur Alcofribas
Genre: Short
Duration: 4 min
Rating: 5.3
Cast: Jehanne d'Alcy, Georges Méliès

Alcofribas, the Master Magician (1903) 

** (out of 4) 

aka L' Enchanteur Alcofrisbas 

This Melies short takes place in what appears to be an abandoned cave. Inside the cave, Melies as well as another magician, try to create fire as well as bring a woman to life. This short runs just under four minutes and for the most part I found it boring. None of the tricks we see here are very original as they've been used in countless Melies films and I also found some of them quite lazy. There's one sequence where a woman rises into the air but it's so obvious how they are doing this trick that it never becomes entertaining. If you've never seen a Melies film then I'm sure you'll be amazed at the special effects but if you've seen several of his films then you'll notice that this one really doesn't hold up with his best work.

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Alcofribas, the Master Magician

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