Hallucinations pharmaceutiques ou Le truc de potard (1908) User Reviews

The Title Threw Me Off

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 21 November 2017]

The correct French title does not appear at the beginning of the film. So it made it hard to find a place to write a comment. This is a very strange film. An alchemist runs a drug producing business. He seems intent on only selling his products to rich clients. When a ragamuffin comes in, he is quickly shown the exit. In what appears to be a practical joke, his assistants put something in his drink, and he begins to have horrible dreams and hallucinations. The special effects are pretty bad with guys running around draped in sheets. The guy goes into utter panic mode and tries to talk to the men. They think this is kind of funny, but he is terrified. Anyway, this is an odd film which would probably speak to modern audiences.

One of Georges Méliès' more complex tales

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 September 2020]

The setting for most of this Georges Méliès film is a pharmacy. It's difficult to tell exactly what time period this is, as some of the costumes seem to be from different eras. This isn't too unusual for Méliès.

Various folks come to this pharmacy. If you have money, the owner is nice...if you are poor, he gives you the boot. It's obvious his three assistants don't think much of him, as for a joke they spike his drink with some hallucinogen. Soon he's seeing all sorts of strange things...ghostly sorts of things. So, to make it stop, he visits a wizard who lives in a cave filled with bones. Why this successful guy doesn't live in a condo or a nice little house, I have no idea. But regardless, he takes care of the problem in a most unusual manner. See the film to see how.

This film is filled with all sorts of nice sets and costumes. And, unlike most Méliès films, there are multiple sets. The story itself is also pretty good...complex and enjoyable. Well worth your time.

Ghostly Hallucinations

[Tornado_Sam · 30 April 2017]

This film by the french filmmaker Georges Melies runs at 13 minutes and is included on the last disc of Flicker Alley's wonderful box set, 'Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema.' I can see there are no user reviews on this one yet, and that's because everybody just does not know what to make of it. And I didn't either until I read the summary online. The people on Flicker Alley could've put a card at the beginning, like they do on other films, but no. This is really confusing, but I'll summarize it as best I can.

Apparently this is a moral story about an alchemist who owns a pharmacy for the rich. His assistants play a trick on him and put a drug in his medicine, and when he takes a nap at the back of the pharmacy ( the drug probably made him sleepy ) he experiences some mysterious ghosts who terrify him ( some of them are played by the assistants; they try to cover them with the sheets but you still can tell the same actors were being used again ). His assistants tell him to go see a famous sorcerer who might be able to help him. The sorcerer brings forth a fairy who turns the pharmacy into a candy shop for the poor. The End.

Fans of the directer will want to watch this, but others new to Melies should go for shorter and less sophisticated stuff. The highlight of this is definitely the part with the mysterious phantoms.