Film

Conjuring

1896 · 1m

Before there was the stop trick, there was the magic trick

IMDb

5.5

The film reproduces a magic act Méliès performed at his Paris theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Conjuring is notable as Méliès's second film, and as his first to move beyond the actuality film genre pioneered by the Lumière brothers and experiment with using the camera to capture a theatrical magic act. (Later in 1896, with his discovery of the substitution splice technique, Méliès was able to begin augmenting his theatrical illusions with new special effects unique to film.) Conjuring can thus be seen as Méliès's first foray into the world of fiction film. The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and numbered 2 in its catalogues.

Georges Méliès

Himself

• Georges MélièsDirector

Release date

June 15, 1896

Status

Released

Original language

French

Runtime

1m

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