The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon

1907 French film

1907 (1907)

Running time

9 min.CountryFranceLanguagesilent film

The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon (originally L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune) is a French silent trick film made in 1907 by director Georges Méliès.

Plot

A professor of astronomy gives a lecture instructing on an impending solar eclipse. The class rushes to an observation tower to witness the event, which features an anthropomorphic Sun and Moon coming together. The Moon and the Sun lick their lips in anticipation as the eclipse arrives, culminating in a romantic encounter between the two celestial bodies. Various heavenly bodies, including planets and moons, hang in the night sky; a meteor shower is depicted using the ghostly figures of girls. The professor of astronomy, shocked by all he has witnessed, topples from the observation tower. Fortunately, he lands in a rain barrel, and is revived by his students.

Cast

Mlle. Bodson as Comet
Manuel as The Class Supervisor
Georges Méliès as Professor of Astronomy

Themes

The Eclipse has been remarked upon for its overt sexual symbolism.^[1]^[2] Christine Cornea posits that the film's primary theme, the clash of scientific logic with sexual desire, was also evident in Méliès' earlier films A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, and would become a prominent in many subsequent science-fiction films.^[1]

Some scholars, interpreting the Sun and the Moon to be both male, have described the erotic "eclipse" as an early depiction of homosexuality in cinema,^[2]^[3] with an "effeminate" Moon being seduced by a "devilishly masculine" Sun.^[1] By contrast, Méliès's film catalogue describes the liaison in heterosexual terms, referring to the participants as "the man in the sun" and "dainty Diana" and using pronouns to match.^[4] Film critic William B. Parrill calls this courtship scene "a comic passage worthy of Ernst Lubitsch at his best … one of the great moments of silent comedy."^[5]

Production

Méliès appears in the film as the professor, with the actor Manuel as the class supervisor and Mademoiselle Bodson as a comet.^[6] Some scenes in The Eclipse were originally made by Méliès for a film commissioned for a revue at a Paris music hall, La Cigale.^[6]

Special effects in The Eclipse were created with stage machinery, pyrotechnics, substitution splices, superimpositions, dissolves, rolling scenery, and a mannequin for the professor's fall.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Cornea, Christine (2007), Science fiction cinema: between fantasy and reality, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 14
^ ^a ^b O'Donoghue, Darragh (July 2004), "Great Directors: Georges Méliès", Senses of Cinema, retrieved 8 March 2014
^ Jess-Cooke, Carolyn (2009), Film sequels: theory and practice from Hollywood to Bollywood, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 20
^ Méliès, Georges (1905), Complete Catalogue of Genuine and Original "Star" Films, New York: Geo. Méliès, p. 135, doi:10.7282/T3CR5TJ3, retrieved 13 February 2014
^ Parrill, William B. (2011), European Silent Films on Video: A Critical Guide, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, p. 472, ISBN 9780786464371
^ ^a ^b ^c Essai de reconstitution du catalogue français de la Star-Film; suivi d'une analyse catalographique des films de Georges Méliès recensés en France, Bois d'Arcy: Service des archives du film du Centre national de la cinématographie, 1981, pp. 278, 280, ISBN 2903053073, OCLC 10506429

External links

The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon at IMDb
The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon at AllMovie
The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon at the TCM Movie Database
The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

Georges Méliès

Actualities

Actualities (1896–1900)
Reconstructed actualities (1897–1902)

Films

1896	Playing Cards Conjuring Watering the Flowers The Rag-Picker Post No Bills The Rescue on the River A Terrible Night Arrival of a Train (Joinville Station) A Lightning Sketch Conjurer Making Ten Hats in Sixty Seconds A Serpentine Dance Miss de Vère (English Jig) The Vanishing Lady The Haunted Castle Tom Old Boot
1897	A Nightmare Comedian Paulus Singing A Funny Mahometan An Hallucinated Alchemist The Haunted Castle On the Roofs D. Devant, Conjurer The School for Sons-in-law The Last Cartridges The Surrender of Tournavos Sea Fighting in Greece Gugusse and the Automaton Between Calais and Dover The Laboratory of Mephistopheles The Barber and the Farmer The Bewitched Inn A Private Dinner After the Ball A Hypnotist at Work Dancing in a Harem
1898	A Novice at X-Rays Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" The Magician The Famous Box Trick Pygmalion and Galatea Adventures of William Tell The Astronomer's Dream The Cave of the Demons The Four Troublesome Heads The Temptation of Saint Anthony
1899	A Dinner Under Difficulties Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb The Bridegroom's Dilemma An Up-to-Date Conjuror The Devil in a Convent The Pillar of Fire The Clown and Automobile A Mysterious Portrait Christ Walking on the Water Summoning the Spirits The Dreyfus Affair The Human Pyramid Cinderella The Snow Man The Mysterious Knight
1900	Addition and Subtraction The Miracles of the Brahmin The Cook's Revenge The Misfortunes of an Explorer Paris Exposition, 1900 The One-Man Band Joan of Arc The Rajah's Dream The Two Blind Men The Artist and the Mannikin Thanking the Audience The Christmas Dream Crying and Laughing Coppelia, the Animated Doll Fat and Lean Wrestling Match A Fantastical Meal Going to Bed Under Difficulties The Doctor and the Monkey What Is Home Without the Boarder China Versus Allied Powers The Brahmin and the Butterfly The Triple-Headed Lady Dislocation Extraordinary Red Riding Hood
1901	The Magician's Cavern Excelsior! The Sacred Fountain Blue Beard The Man with the Rubber Head
1902	The Eruption of Mount Pelee The Catastrophe of the Balloon "Le Pax" A Trip to the Moon The Shadow-Girl The Coronation of Edward VII The Treasures of Satan The Human Fly Up-to-Date Surgery Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants Robinson Crusoe The Marvellous Wreath
1903	Misfortune Never Comes Alone The Infernal Cake Walk The Mysterious Box The Queen's Musketeers The Enchanted Well The Inn Where No Man Rests The Drawing Lesson The Mystical Flame The Witch's Revenge The Oracle of Delphi A Spiritualistic Photographer The Melomaniac The Monster The Kingdom of the Fairies The Infernal Cauldron The Apparition Jupiter's Thunderbolts Ten Ladies in One Umbrella Jack Jaggs and Dum Dum Bob Kick, the Mischievous Kid Extraordinary Illusions Alcofrisbas, the Master Magician Jack and Jim The Magic Lantern The Ballet-Master's Dream The Damnation of Faust The Terrible Turkish Executioner A Moonlight Serenade
1904	Tit for Tat A Wager Between Two Magicians, or Jealous of Myself Every Man His Own Cigar Lighter The Bewitched Trunk The Fugitive Apparitions The Untamable Whiskers The Clockmaker's Dream The Imperceptible Transmutations A Miracle Under the Inquisition Faust and Marguerite Tchin-Chao, the Chinese Conjurer The Wonderful Living Fan The Cook in Trouble The Mermaid The Providence of the Waves The Barber of Seville The Wonderful Rose-Tree The Impossible Voyage The Firefall The Christmas Angel
1905	The Living Playing Cards The Black Imp The Crystal Casket The Lilliputian Minuet A Mesmerian Experiment The Venetian Looking-Glass The Palace of the Arabian Nights The Tower of London The Enchanted Sedan Chair An Adventurous Automobile Trip The Mysterious Island Unexpected Fireworks Rip's Dream The Scheming Gambler's Paradise The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship
1906	A Mix-up in the Gallery The Chimney Sweep The Tramp and the Mattress Makers The Hilarious Posters A Desperate Crime Punch and Judy A Roadside Inn Soap Bubbles The Merry Frolics of Satan A Seaside Flirtation The Mysterious Retort The Witch Robert Macaire and Bertrand
1907	Rogues' Tricks Under the Seas How Bridget's Lover Escaped Tunnelling the English Channel The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon Hamlet Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar" Sightseeing Through Whisky Good Glue Sticks Satan in Prison Delirium in a Studio The Knight of Black Art The Good Luck of a "Souse"
1908	Humanity Through the Ages The Genii of Fire Why That Actor Was Late The Dream of an Opium Fiend Long Distance Wireless Photography The Prophetess of Thebes In the Barber Shop A Fake Diamond Swindler The New Lord of the Village The Miser Sideshow Wrestlers The Broken Violin A Love Tragedy in Spain Mishaps of the New York–Paris Race The Woes of Roller Skaters Love and Molasses The Mischances of a Photographer The Indian Sorcerer A Tricky Painter's Fate French Cops Learning English Fun With the Bridal Party Not Guilty Buncoed Stage Johnnie A Grandmother's Story The Helping Hand The Old Footlight Favorite Honeymoon in a Balloon The Duke's Good Joke Incident from Don Quixote The Fairy Dragonfly Moitié de polka Fortune Favors the Brave Hypnotist's Revenge Pharmaceutical Hallucinations The Good Shepherdess and the Evil Princess The Living Doll Seein' Things The Frozen Policeman Tribulation or the Misfortunes of a Cobbler
1909	The Doctor's Secret The Diabolic Tenant Whimsical Illusions King of the Mediums The Spider and the Butterfly
1911	Baron Munchausen's Dream The Diabolical Church Window
1912	The Conquest of the Pole Cinderella or the Glass Slipper The Knight of the Snows The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family