Having recently made one of the world's first multi-scene story films with the six-minute "Cinderella", director Georges Méliès returns to the trick films with this simple vignette in which the knight of the title (once again himself) draws a head on a blackboard and brings it to life. Once more, in this film we notice that the superimposed head is exposed against two black backgrounds: the chalkboard and the fireplace (this having been done previously in "The Four Troublesome Heads" of 1898). Additionally, the tricks are a little more complex, such as the head being put on a tripod, a sword (which was admittedly a little sloppy and revealing), and a bottle neck. Even the editing, such as making the entire person appear and taking the head off the blackboard, is used for different effects and ideas and creates a few new variations. Clearly these edits and superimpositions were, for the most part, done with care.
Of further note is the fade-out of the female character against the black background; such an effect was still a quite new (having been used also as a scene transition device in "Cinderella") and is done in an amazingly convincing way in this short.
I believe I read somewhere on a summary of this short that at the end the knight disappeared up the fireplace, which would mean that the ending is missing. I cannot guarantee this came from a reliable source, since the Star Film Catalogue offers no description of the movie to declare it a true statement. The film now ends with the knight wiping the image off the blackboard, and as it does seem like there he would have done a magical exit, I could see this being the actual ending--another reason also being that a disappearance in a fireplace was done later in "The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head" from 1900.
Of further note is the fade-out of the female character against the black background; such an effect was still a quite new (having been used also as a scene transition device in "Cinderella") and is done in an amazingly convincing way in this short.
I believe I read somewhere on a summary of this short that at the end the knight disappeared up the fireplace, which would mean that the ending is missing. I cannot guarantee this came from a reliable source, since the Star Film Catalogue offers no description of the movie to declare it a true statement. The film now ends with the knight wiping the image off the blackboard, and as it does seem like there he would have done a magical exit, I could see this being the actual ending--another reason also being that a disappearance in a fireplace was done later in "The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head" from 1900.