In this very brief film Georges Méliès, one-time stage magician, performs an extraordinary routine with a little help from a 'Magical Box,' a comely assistant, and that genuinely magical box, the motion picture camera. The act is presented as it would be on stage. We first see Méliès, wearing an Asian outfit, as he sits on a table before a curtain. In a wink he has traded his silk garments for a Western suit. Next, he assembles a woman before our eyes out of mannequin parts and brings her to life. In a flash he whips off her clothing -- revealing another outfit underneath -- but seems displeased when she changes into a man. And etc. etc., right up to an amusing final gag. Méliès was said to be an accomplished magician, but most of the tricks he performs here would have been impossible to do without the help of camera tricks and film editing.
Georges Méliès is best known for his famous sci-fi spectacular A Trip to the Moon, and several other elaborate productions along similar lines. Those works are delightful, but I also enjoy these brief, simple entertainments he produced so prolifically in the early days of his career as a filmmaker. These trick films are exhilarating and funny, and they convey great excitement for the new medium.