Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The early journey of a film wizard

Charlie Chaplin once described him as the "alchemist of light." Silent-movie pioneer D.W. Griffith claimed to owe him "everything."

The French filmmaker Georges Méliès was a visionary who brought adventure, fun and magic to the screen when cinema was in its infancy. More than a century later, his fantasy and sci-fi classics, such as "A Trip to the Moon," which features the indelible scene of a rocket hitting the eye of a moon face, still enthrall audiences.

The lavish new DVD box set "Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema" (Flicker Alley, $89.95), which arrives Tuesday, is the most comprehensive retrospective of the filmmaker's work available. The five-disc, 13-hour collection features 173 of the estimated 500 films he made from 1896 to 1913.

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