A Trip To The Moon & The Extraordinary Voyage Deluxe Combo Blu-Ray DVD Edition

As have many of you, I've seen photos of the man in the moon with the projectile in his eye for years. I had not really thought about this movie until I recently saw Hugo which I found to be an entrancing film about a young boy and his life in a train station. The character Georges Melies is introduced as the proprietor of a toy shop in the train station; a situation which parallels the real life of Melies. Flashbacks show him as he started out on his film making career and generated an interest in learning more about this man. The production of Hugo involved the recreation of Melies' studio in Montreuil's Garden and gives the viewer some helpful insights into the world and life of Melies.As a dedicated science fiction fan it was easy for me to relate to his enthusiasm for a trip to the moon; as a young boy I too read Jules Verne's' 1865 novel, "From the Earth to the Moon" which served in part as Melies' inspiration for making the movie. I am not a film buff and I don't specialize in old films or have a strong enthusiasm for their restoration; I am, however, grateful that there are some people who care and are taking extraordinary steps to preserve the older films.There is an interesting and rather lengthy documentary about the original circumstances surrounding the production of the original movie and the much later steps required to restore it. This was definitely a labor of love and movie fans owe a debt of gratitude to the dedication and determination of all those involved in this effort. At the time the restoration was begun the technology did not yet exist to complete the process as required; the digital files had to wait several years before technology finally provided the needed tools.Included in this version is a very informative 23 page booklet, all in English, that provides additional pictures and information regarding the man and his movie.I am really thankful that I saw Hugo first; it prepared me for this excellent rendition of "A Trip to the Moon" and in a way helped me understand and appreciate Melies' vision. I recommend this movie to all who have an interest in science fiction and those who have an interest in the efforts of the early pioneers in movie making.

I recieved my disc today and found the color version to be asbsolutely beautiful and utterly enchanting. The soundtrack by AIR was not as bad as I had feared after reading some of the reviews and previewing the soundtrack cd. (Thankfully, much of the most dreadful music on the cd is not in the film.) However, I agree wholeheartedly that it was a terrible mistake to make the AIR soundtrack the only option. I consider this to be a very important release, and feel its integrity has been seriously damaged by this baffling decision on the part of Flicker Alley. I also do not like the Blu-ray/DVD combo format. I think that most people, like me, will only watch the Blu-ray disc, unless they have no Blu-ray player, in which case they will only watch the DVD. This makes the extra disc useful as a drinks coaster or mini frisbee, but little else. They could easily have made the second disc a 'Best Of Melies In Color' compilation or perhaps a sampling of contemporary films to provide a historical perspective. But these issues aside, I am very happy with my purchase and it definately will go on my shelf with other discs which will never go on ebay, even if I am reduced to living on rice and beans.P.S. If you cannot afford the 30 to 40 dollars price, you can get a dvd version as a bonus disc to the AIR soundtrack cd for around 15 dollars. Then you can use the dreadful cd for your drinks coaster.

There is another Trip To The Moon item on Amazon (found here:  A Trip to the Moon Restored (Limited Edition, Steelbook) [Blu-ray ]) that is rather expensive, (I believe it's around 70$ now), that is the Limited Edition Steelbook, which is no longer in print. The one being printed now is this product found here on this page. I purchased this expecting the steelbook, this is just my warning to everyone else, it is NOT a steelbook.That being said, other than the packaging, there is no difference between the two. It still comes with the Blu-ray, DVD, and a 24 page booklet, all packaged within (what many know as) a Criterion Blu-ray case.Now, about the film itself: absolutely magnificent. After watching both the colour version, and the black-and-white version, I watched the hour long documentary included on the disc. The wealth of information within this feature is overwhelming. You learn about silent films, The history of George Melies, the fall of silent cinema, and the finding and restoration of A Trip to The Moon (my favourite part!), all of it being very informative. Also included are two other shorts by Melies with moon-related stories, an interview with French music duo Air, and three audio options for the black-and-white version of the film.A Trip to The Moon is one of the best Blu-ray packages you can spend your money on, it's worthy of a spot in any film-lovers collection.

Most people today do not know who George Melies was, much less, how much he influenced the early beginnings of the motion picture industry. This film set contains both a short film and a documentary. The short film (A trip to the Moon) is of historical importance in itself, but the documentary that accompanies this film is what made the purchase worth it for me. It is amazing how many films were completely lost over the course of the last century, but a very few noteworthy ones managed to survive anyway because of the hard work of certain individuals.. I found the admission price for me a little high for a film that I will not watch often, but I am glad I bought it anyway. For anyone interested in film history, this is a must see.

This is a film most people have some awareness of. You've probably at least seen the cover image of the Moon as a face with the space capsule stuck in its eye.This is considered the 1st science fiction film ever made which is isn't. A glance at works such as The Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Sceince Fiction will show you how may were made before it. But early ones used ideas such as dogs going through a machine and being turned into sausages so this really is the 1st one of note. It's based in/inspired by the novels of Jules Verne "From Earth to the Moon" and "Round The Moon" plus H G Wells' The First Men in the Moon". It has a proper story albeit a simple one where a group of people fire a capsule at the moon to see what's there, meet the inhabitants and return to earth.Around 15 minutes long it's full of spectacle and broad comedy, slapstick but with charm. It's very theatrical and likely to amuse and entertain all ages.The rudimentary special effcets again they are theatrical, show how much could be acheived with a lot of imagination over a century ago. This certainly deserves to be counted as the 1st SF film, whether it is or not.The film has been restored as close to the original tints as possible. They are beautiful with an indian ink picture look rather than photo realistic colour. Naturally even the best restoration technology has its limits and the picture is a little scratchy in places.The brevity of the film's running time means a substantial extra feature was needed and "The Extraordinary Voyage" lives up to it's name. The 1st section is a potted history of George Melies with lots of clips from his films and soundbites from a surviving interview-subtitled. Yes you get to hear his voice!It's a bittersweet tale including how he lost money through being ripped off by unauthorised prints of his films and by other directors being hired to duplicate his films. There's a copy of Voyage dans La Lune made by another director we see clips of.The documentary moves on to a detailed look at how the original look of this antique film was restored. By chance it's discovered the Spanish have a copy of Voyage in colour which they swap, ironically for prints of films by a leading Melies' imitator!The print is like a block of wood and has to be released slowly for images to be retrieved and then there are agonising waits for advances in technology, difficult choices over how to replace lost fragments in the colour prints and so on.The other extra is a photo gallery.If you have any interest whatsoever in early film, Melies or this film this will not disappoint you.

コアな映画ファンを自認していましたが、なさけない話、ジョルジュ・メリエスという名前を「ヒューゴの不思議な発明」で初めて知りました。その中で挿入されていた「月世界旅行」の全編(約14分くらいでカラー処理)を見たくなり、海外盤ですが購入しました。特典で「月世界旅行」のモノクロ原版にＢＧＭを複数付けたものと、他の数本のモノクロ作品も入っています。毒のある作品もありますが音楽が良いのでなぜかほのぼのした時間をすごせました。ドキュメンタリーは英語がわからないので厳しいですが、満足の1枚です。短編ながらもこの時代を考えますと、グリフィスの大作「イントレランス」やフリッツラングの「メトロポリス」「Ｍ」を見たときのような感銘がありました。

I have more production technology in my mobile phone than Melies had, but if I were on a desert island for a decade, I couldn't think as creatively or as adeptly as Melies did with this. Extras are a genuine bonus, too, and not simply junk added to lengthen the list of contents.

good service, product as discibed

What a wonderful film, as featured in the fairly recent Hugo. So much thought and work, and amazing for its day. This is a master at work