The Monster (1903) User Reviews

Le monstre: Quaint and comical

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 30 March 2019]

The Monster is an interesting hyper short silent film from 1903 (Which is now the earliest feature I've seen).

It tells the story of an Egyptian Prince who pays a dervish to resurrect a dead lover. As grisly as it may sound it's actually very comical and rather playful. We see our corpse in comedic skits, dancing and the whole thing is quite ahead of its time.

Certainly The Monster suffers with limitations based upon the time of release such as the lack of music and less than flawless video quality but it makes up for this by being highly quaint and surprisingly funny.

I'm not a lover of silent cinema, for me the silence is deafening but 3 minutes is manageable and it allowed me to appreciate that they did something quite impressive with such restrictions.

The Good:

Looks great for its time

Oddly funny

The Bad:

Usual set of restrictions

Skeleton Dance

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 13 May 2009]

This is another typically macabre little number from visionary French pioneer Georges Melies which, while head and shoulders above the work of most of his contemporaries, is fairly inconsequential when compared to much of his output from the same year. It's a one-scene shot set against the sphinxes of Egypt and features the resurrection of a dead princess at the behest of an Egyptian prince. The princess's skeleton is removed from her coffin and brought to life by a magician. Shrouded in veils, she dances around manically for a while, performing unnatural contortions before turning back into a skeleton when her lovelorn prince attempts to kiss her. Enjoyable enough, but only average for Melies.

A lesser Méliès short

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 September 2006]

While this movie is very creative and clever in its use of trick cinematography when compared to other contemporary films, it is a lesser film from Méliès because compared to his other films of the time (particularly Le Voyage Dans le Lune), it is not particularly outstanding.

An Egyptian misses his dead sweetheart and gets a strange holy man to revive her from the dead. Using only her skeleton, he produces some strange effects and ultimately the live girl. But, the joy is very, very short-lived and the final scene is pretty clever as she is "magically" returned to her skeletal state. Very interesting and breezy, this film is well worth your time--particularly if you are a fan of the earliest films.

If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.

Playful little short.

[Ben_Cheshire · 27 March 2004]

With an egyptian backdrop and egyptian costumes, two people enter shot, one carries a coffin. A skeleton rises out of it while the man's back is turned. The man sits the skeleton down and dresses it with some white sheets. The skeleton begins dancing around riotously! The man performs various tricks for the other figure with the skeleton, making it turn into a woman, then making the woman turn back into a skeleton. Melies was a magician and a cinema innovator. He built his own cameras and studio, and is much more a descendent of movies than the Lumieres, who were more technicians than artists. Playfulness, inventiveness and creativity abounds in Melies. Lots of fun from the most creative man in the first years of cinema, Georges Melies.

A fine illusionist piece from Georges Méliès

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 9 November 2010]

This little atmospheric short is about a couple of people in Egypt who are visited by a ghostly skeletal creature who rises out of a coffin that they have been transporting. Georges Méliès shows here once again that he was not only adept at visual trickery but was able to present it in an interesting way. The Egyptian setting is a nice touch and adds some exotic ambiance. The skeletal creature is manipulated in ways that are visually interesting. It dances around and is covered in sheets making it appear like a ghostly apparition. It rises high into the air and disappears into the ground. It even latterly turns into a woman. Of course, it's all very gimmicky but early films did not really tell stories at this point in history and Méliès did imbue his trick films with a definite charm. Le Monstre does sort of come off as a magician's show in many ways, but like a lot of his films it has been given a personality and the exotic flavour doesn't do it any harm at all.

Flimsy story but of interest

[russjones-80887 · 6/10 · 10 August 2020]

Following the death of his wife, an Egyptian prince hires a priest to resurrect her. After the skeleton is recovered, the priest brings her back to life as a monster before it transforms into the prince's wife.

Early silent film by George Méliès, pioneering French director, who also stars as the priest. Clever special effects for the time and, although not substantial, it's worth using the 2 minutes it takes to watch it.

Short, snappy, Egyptian fantasy

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 16 August 2016]

Another of George Melies short films, this one lasting only a couple of minutes. The protagonist is an Egyptian prince grieving after the death of his beloved wife. Desperate to hold her in his arms once more, he employs the services of a mystic in order to make it happen, and the scene is set for a series of supernatural events...

Once again the director jams as many camera tricks as possible into such a short space of time. We are treated to such delights as a spooky skeleton standing up and dancing. Its head then floats off and it eventually turns into a beautiful young woman before turning back into a skeleton. These effects are still enjoyable to watch after all these years. The background image of the Sphinx also looks very realistic. Melies once again impresses his audience with his skilled camera-work.

Melies has fun for a minute, or two

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 5 December 2016]

In this two minute movie, we get a guy who takes a skeleton and creates a monster. For what purpose? Who cares? It's a monster! Time to do the MASH!

This is How to Make a Monster 101: add water. If no water available, throw on a white dress. Preferable if you have an Egyptian backdrop. Warning: the monster may do wild Muppety-dances and grow a giant neck and go tall and short at random moments because it's George Melies and he was the first delightful madman of the cinema. You'll have to get through the first minute of this two minute spectacle to get to the good stuff, but once you do it's a whole lot of frames of dancing mania and with an ending that is a genuine thrill and surprise (though all part of Melies' dated but wonderful magic tricks in general).

Great example of early special effects!

[meddlecore · 10/10 · 9 August 2006]

The marvelous Melies magically makes a monster move and frolic about, showing us his mastery with a few great special effects from his era. He makes a skeleton appear and gives it life after which it proceeds to get up and run around. The monster then melts until only the head remains before growing to twice the height of Melies the magician. After returning to normal size the neck sprouts from it's body like a flower would the earth, which for 1903 i find to be a spectacular special effect. Melies the great illusionist then amazes us by turning the monster into a beautiful woman and of course adding his signature, by making her disappear! Another wonderful film by early-cinema's most innovative and entertaining performer!

You Can't Always Get What You Want

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 14 November 2017]

A couple of Egyptians stand in front of the Sphinx, probably at Giza. The one is missing his wife and prays to the gods to return her. He has her skeleton and, sure enough, through magic, she is returned. Her skeleton regains its body. But things don't always turn out the way we want, especially when the gods are involved. It has a dramatic conclusion.

Méliès past peak?

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 22 July 2016]

"Le monstre" or "The Monster" is a French 2-minute short film from 1903 and the year already tells everybody that this is silent and black-and-white. And despite being almost 115 years old, you can say "only 115 years old" when it comes to Méliès as he had made many films already at this point. And looking at how experienced and prolific he was by the early 20th century, this one here is a disappointment. It's virtually impossible to understand the story. good for him if he wanted to include a plot here, but it was not a success as the audience barely could understand it. In the end, everything that stays memorable is the Sphing statue in the background. This is far from enough though and nothing better than or superior to what Méliès showed us several years earlier in terms of set decorations. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

The Monster

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Monster, The (1903)

*** (out of 4)

aka Monstre, Le

This here seems to be an early take on the Frankenstein story and was made seven years before Edison's official version. An Egyptian prince has recently lost his wife so he brings a man with her coffin to try and bring her from the dead. This is a fun little film that Melies manages to bring a lot of his magic to the screen as well as an overall playful attitude. When they pull the skeleton out of the coffin and start doing their magic, the skeleton begins to dance in a very playful matter before the Prince tries to her one final kiss. The magic tricks are pretty good with the last one being the best where the Prince goes to give his wife a kiss but something goes wrong. The back of the stage is done up in an Egyptian manor and looks quite nice. Fans of the horror genre will certainly want to check this one out since there are various early horror elements. The film includes spoken narration.

The "Scream" of the early 1900's

[antropos01 · 26 February 2003]

Two minute show about a magician who takes a skeleton, and brings it to life. When he throws it at the poor girl who sits besides and watches in horror, the movie reaches its top. The sfx of this movie consists of very much noticeable clips, but it's really entertaining for those interested in the history of movies.