The Bewitched Inn (1897) User Reviews

Humorous short from Méliès

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 15 April 2012]

A traveller experiences strange paranormal activity in a room at an inn where he stops to stay the night. Clothes fly around, a chair vanishes and his boots walk off; all to the consternation of the spooked out man.

This little comic short from Georges Méliès is a very early showcase for his cinematic trickery and visual invention. Just as significantly it illustrates his sense of humour. Méliès made many funny films which incredibly are still amusing even now, over a century down the line. The effects remain impressive even though we all know how they are done. There is always a loving care in Méliès work. This one is no exception and shows why he is the first cinematic genius.

The Bewitched Inn review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 21 April 2020]

An early Melies movie, and all the tricks must have seemed fantastical to audiences of the day. Today, it quickly grows repetitive.

Flattering himself

[boblipton · 10/10 · 13 March 2008]

L'AUBERGE ENSORCELE is probably Melies' most imitated single film: a traveler enters a hotel room and things don't just go wrong: they go terribly pear-shaped as beds vanish and reappear, boots walk off and pants fly away in a side-splitting combination of stage and film magic. I have seen variations from Edison, Booth, Gaumont and Melies redid this at least three times in increasingly elaborate variations. Still, there's always tremendous fun in seeing something done for the first time and Melies' sense of fun is always great to see.

This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.

Impressive stuff... in 1897. Now, not so much.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 11 November 2018]

A weary traveller (played by the film's director, Georges Méliès) settles down in a room for the night but is plagued by disappearing and reappearing items, and clothing that moves by itself. When his bed and chair vanish and come back, it all proves too much for the man, who leaves in a fluster.

Locking off the camera, stopping the film, moving the props, and then restarting the camera was cutting-edge stuff in 1897, and the result must have seemed like magic to the audience, but these days the same trick (and much more) can easily be achieved using a phone. Other objects in Méliès' pioneering 2 minute short are obviously moved by wires. Undeniably a landmark moment in the history of special effects cinema, but the fact is, to the vast majority of today's viewers, The Bewitched Inn will seem like extremely crude stuff, both technically and comedically.

The First Haunted Inn Short

[Tornado_Sam · 26 August 2018]

Even though he'd only been part of the industry for about a year, Georges Méliès was already nearly past the typical actualities and cheap slapstick comedies of the time and by 1897 was already starting to initiate the genres that would become popular later in his career. Among these genres, we have the very typical story of the 'weary traveler' (always played by Méliès) arriving at the haunted inn and being plagued by spirits when trying to get to sleep. Because of its early date, this happens to be the very first in the genre--and while fairly simplistic compared to others (such as "The Inn Where No Man Rests") it nonetheless remains a very standout short, especially compared to what most filmmakers were making during the period.

However, even though most of it is done well, it's obvious that Méliès was still in training. For one, he would always try to mask his cuts using movement in frame to make them seamless; here, a few cuts are not done in this way. To make the luggage disappear, for instance, Méliès comes in and sets it on the bed before turning to the audience in a standstill position--as if he's waiting for it to disappear (which he obviously is). Another very obvious trick--this one using wires as in a theatrical gimmick--is the one where the boots walk away. When set on the ground, two pieces of material/boards appear underneath them--undoubtedly having something to do with the wires pulling them, or also possibly being magnets which controlled the boots from another magnet beneath the set. The same gag was later repeated in the aforementioned "The Inn Where No Man Rests" but done to where the boots actually walk up and down rather than sliding as in here. Outside of this, the cuts are fairly well done and many of them appear seamless enough even now--not to mention the equally well-handled theatrical gimmicks of the clothing flying out of shot.

As always, the director does a wonderful performance in his role as the inn guest. Though many may not give it a second thought, he was very talented in playing his roles for the camera and is often forgotten as being such a good entertainer. Not only was Méliès forced to play the lead roles a lot of the time, he did a great job in them, mainly due to being a magician in real life before beginning filmmaking. This movie is yet another example of the man's talent and how he was so much ahead of everyone else; a perfect place to begin if you are new to the legendary director.

On a side note, I'd like to point out the camera angle is much closer here than the broad long shots typical of later movies--it's very easy to see the character's facial expressions. This is interesting and makes me wonder if the set was so small it required it, or if Méliès planned it out that way for just this purpose.

Brilliant--it's classic Méliès in every way.

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 5 January 2012]

This is a simple but highly appealing short film--and one of the very best from Georges Méliès' early work. Méliès was a stage magician who decided to incorporate magic into films and used a variety of techniques that were novel for the time to make his movie seem magical. Often, just by stopping and restarting the camera, he could make it appear as if things vanish or reappear! Nowadays, folks can easily see how this is done, but at the time it was hot stuff--so hot, other filmmakers started stealing his tricks and even made films that you swear were made by Georges Méliès himself!

"The Bewitched Inn" stands out because although it uses the standard sorts of camera tricks, it also has a wonderful sense of humor. So, not only do things appear and disappear, but the room appears to be deliberately antagonizing the poor man (as usual, played by the director himself). You really have to feel sorry for the guy, as again and again the room gets the better of him! Cute and well worth seeing.

Méliès delivering movie magic again

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 13 October 2013]

And here he does it even in the truest sense of the word. Even if it runs over 100 seconds and is pretty long for that era back then, this short film is packed with an amount of action that is almost too much for its running-time. A man enters an inn and from the moment he undresses things get awkward. Everything appears, reappears or moves with no logical explanation behind it. Every time he focuses on a new object, you could be certain something was about to happen with it. That includes primarily his clothes: coats, boots and pants, but also a chair keeps changing his position and the highlight is the big bed disappearing. No rest for him, it seems. Only his massive beard stays exactly where it is. Solid work from Méliès, neither among his best nor worst.

Bewitched Inn

[Michael_Elliott · 28 March 2008]

Bewitched Inn, The (1897)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

aka L'Auberge ensorcelee

Melies plays a man who shows up at his motel room where ghostly things start happening right from the start. We get to witness all sorts of magic tricks throughout this film including his clothes flying through the air, his boots walking off and of course a scene where he goes to sit in a chair only to have the chair move on him. The special effects are, needless to say, terrific and it's amazing at how well they hold up today. The magic Melies brings to the screen is certainly something very special and this film contains plenty of laughs to keep you entertained. The highlight of the film has to be the exploding candle.

Just a Hoot

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 10 November 2017]

Once more, a traveller finds himself in a nightmare. He tries to simply enjoy a good night's rest. While his is getting ready, various pieces of furniture disappear and reappear. At one point, he takes off his pants and they fly through the air. Soon it's his bed. The man is frantic and overacts like crazy, which is great fun. These crazy living quarters are a real treat and must have been a delight to the viewers.

The Weary Traveler at the Inn

[Cineanalyst · 14 August 2013]

Among the films of Georges Méliès available today, this is the first to feature one of the cinema magician's most common trick film formulas--that of the weary traveler being tormented in his hotel room. Méliès's earlier films "A Terrible Night" (Une nuit terrible) and "A Nightmare" (Le cauchemar) (both 1896) established the outlines of a man's rest being interrupted, but here is the earliest available instance where he is at an inn, and the entire room seems to conspire against his restful night's sleep.

This was done by both theatrical and cinematic tricks. For instance, a splice of the filmstrip made a chair disappear as he tries to sit down, while his boots are pulled away on strings. These movements, appearances and disappearances of his clothing and the room's furniture end up driving the man to run out of the room in terror. Additionally, it shouldn't be overlooked how much Méliès's own performances in front of the camera added to the amusement of these productions.

This weary traveler at an inn genre was employed again in such Méliès's films as "Going to Bed Under Difficulties" (1900), "The Inn Where No Man Rests" (1903) and "The Black Imp" (1905) with variations on this theme in "A Roadside Inn" (1906) and "The Diabolic Tenant" (1909). Other filmmakers were quick to imitate and improve upon these films, as well, including Edwin S. Porter's "Dream of a Rarebit Fiend" (1906) and J. Stuart Blackton's "The Haunted Hotel" (1907).