Sick Product of a Sick System

Please don't spend money on this.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

In this Melies film, he stays pretty true to the legend. A man who has managed a great fortune, talks another man into giving him his daughter in marriage. She resists, but the financial gains clinch the deal. They have a really interesting wedding feast with huge foodstuffs. Now he takes her into the courtyard and tells her the whole castle is hers, except for the one room. He gives her a key but forbids her to use it. Of course, she does and realizes what her fate is going to be--there are seven women hanging in the room (pretty harsh stuff). Anyway, it is now up to her to be enterprising and survived. The conclusion is a bit scattered, but it's fun anyway.

Arguably, the first bona-fide horror film ever made. The scene where the wife goes to the cellar and finds the hanged bodies of the previous wives is genuinely chilling, and the eerie dream scene is very well done.There is really no exaggerating of Georges Méliès' importance in the history of cinema, inventor of special effects, an early expressionist before expressionism even officially existed, a wizard creator of magical worlds, a canny surrealist a full two decades before surrealism was even born, a trickster and relentless comedian that knows no bounds: more than an innovator, Méliès is a genius.

For 1901, this is a completely extraordinary film. No other film director or producer of the time could even come close to equaling the complexity and watchability of his films. Think about it--in 1901 when this film was made, almost all films were only about a minute long (more or less) and almost all of them were just ordinary films featuring ordinary activities (such as babies crying, waterfalls or street scenes). There was absolutely no writing, no plot and no acting as we came to know it. Yet, at the same time we have films like BLUEBEARD that have wonderful sets (kind of kitchy compared to today--I really think they are cute and charming), acting and scripts! Plus, after about the first half of this film, you'll see the absolute best trick cinematography of the era!! When the little imp jumps in and out of the book, the horrific scene of the seven dead wives hanging in the basement and the amazing not to be missed final scene you realize that for his time, Méliès was an absolute genius and tremendous innovator. The only negative at all about this film was the lack of inter-title cards--something that you can't blame him for since they hadn't yet come into vogue. Brilliant and every bit as wonderful as his 1902 breakout film Le Voyage dans le Lune.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.

Bluebeard is one of Georges Melies' most fascinating films not just in the depiction of how the title character lost his first seven wives but also in a fascinating dream sequence involving keys and vision of those wives from his current one. Melies also became the first filmmaker to use product placement when we see a giant wine bottle of a popular French brand during the wedding preparation. There's lots of comedy in the beginning and plenty of action at the end so there's no shortage of excitement in this nine minute short! Melies was obviously on a roll here but it would be a year before he became world famous with what would be his most popular film: A Trip to the Moon. By all means seek Bluebeard out if you're a Melies enthusiast!