The Haunted Castle (1897) User Reviews

Stealing from Melies

[boblipton · 7/10 · 5 January 2014]

George Albert Smith is not well remembered today, although he was a key player in many aspects of cinema. He invented modern film grammar, although he lost interest in that part of film-making by about 1905 and left the details of regularizing it to D.W. Griffith, who is usually credited with the work. He next turned his attention to making color movies and came up with Kinemacolour, which enjoyed moderate success for five or ten years and was later swamped by Technicolor.

However, here he is at the beginning of his career and what is he doing? He's doing a rip-off of Georges Melies THE HAUNTED CASTLE of the previous year. It's largely comparable, but the print I saw was lovingly tinted, which lends it an air of excellence that a typical duplication would not have. However, it's an apprentice's work. He would move on within a year or two.

Smith film is still lost

[Tornado_Sam · 3 September 2018]

G. A. Smith's "The Haunted Castle" of 1897 is now a lost film. In truth, the short hand-colored movie on YouTube (which is sometimes labelled as Smith's ripoff of the original Méliès 1896 classic) is in fact Méliès's own remake of his earlier film. If you hate the remake, don't blame Smith because he had nothing to do with its making. (He was, however, among buyers of it). I have no idea how people were fooled by this since both are practically identical in visual design. Smith's movie is forever lost.

The Haunted Castle

[skybrick736 · 1/10 · 8 August 2014]

GAS Films short silent film The Haunted Castle out of Great Britain is supplementary to a French classic called Le Manior Du Diable. What I don't understand about this follow up or potential rip off is why George Albert Smith didn't add anything creative or new. I feel like he was trying to pay homage to Melies's House of the Devil but it was a shorter film without the story. I feel silly hating on a movie from 1897, which I know sounds a little irrational but after watching the flick and doing a little research online I'm still confused at these points. I suggest checking out the predecessor being an original and longer film.

The Haunted Castle is the first ever horror remake and ironically lacks any hauntings.

[TheMovieDiorama · 3/10 · 23 March 2019]

This is an interesting short film. Not because of the full-blown irony from a watered-down remake would set a precedent for the future of cinema (thanks...). It's a mysterious film that is actually hypothetically lost. George Albert Smith is attached to this forty second short, which is a direct remake of Méliès' three minute 'Le Manoir Du Diable'. But, history tells us that it was actually Méliès who directed this a year after his original. Smith seemingly purchased the film for British audiences, to which they all presumed he directed it. And so his name was forever attached. Fascinating how time skews works of art!

Anyway, the vital scenes of the skeleton appearing and transforming into a shadowy figure which then morphs into a ghost are still present. It just happens much much quicker. That's about it really. The editing is considerably more frantic, particularly the jump cuts, and the charm and creativity of the original is practically non-existent. The eccentric character movements are minimal and the magical horror elements are lacklustre to say the least. Oh, and either the end of the film is lost or Méliès/Smith couldn't be bothered to finish the film. It literally makes no sense to remake a film a year after the original, almost rendering this useless. An exercise in futility. It's best that we let time forget about The Haunted Castle.

Spooky things going on

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 22 November 2015]

"The Haunted Castle" is a British 1897 movie by George Albert Smith. If you want to watch this, you need to pay attention to 2 things. First of all, Méliès made a film with the same title one year earlier, so make sure you get the correct one and secondly, there were obviously no colors in this very old video. There are remastered version with colors, so you have to decide which one you prefer. Anyway, this one here has moving chairs, randomly appearing people, skeletons etc, so it's a bit of a magic show. I guess the protagonist in here was not very much entertained looking at how scared he is from start to finish in this movie that runs for slightly under a minute. Then again we'd be pretty scared too I guess. All in all, an okay watch at best, but by no means worth seeing, even if you like these very old films from the early days of cinema.

stunning effects, more then 120 years old

[trashgang · 9/10 · 28 June 2020]

The first time I can't find a flick on IMDb. This one made by Georges Méliès is in fact a remake of G. A Smith's flick. Staed here as being both the same, incorrect because this remake is just above 3 minutes long.

But what a flick, full of stunning effects that still can be shown nowadays to learn how easy the mind can be fooled by using simple effective effects.

Not really any story at all, just showing off and it does works out fine.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Correction

[gwendt63 · 3 May 2019]

Regarding the previous review stating there were no colors is incorrect. The colorized version on YouTube (which is actually the Melies film) is hand colored by Melies himself. He and several others experimented with this labor intensive process, akin to the illuminated manuscripts produced by monks before the printing press. They would take a few prints and hand color them, distributing the rest uncolored.