Georges Melies purchased the exhibition theater of the French magician Robert Houdin and used it for filming many of his films with innovative camera-work, in this case jump- cutting and freeze-framing. Instead of just filming a scene in one take as the earlier actuality films, Melies edits (almost seamlessly) a couple scenes together so that a woman (Jeanne d'Alcy) appears to disappear, turn into a skeleton, and then reappears as part of his magic act. The film makes it rather obvious now, but back then, this film must have been shocking to original audiences who had nary a clue as to how the effect was accomplished. This editing technique would lead to other wide-spread use of editing film. **1/2 of 4 stars.
