Hitchcoc In this Melies film, he stays pretty true to the legend. A man who has managed a great fortune, talks another man into giving him his daughter in marriage. She resists, but the financial gains clinch the deal. They have a really interesting wedding feast with huge foodstuffs. Now he takes her into the courtyard and tells her the whole castle is hers, except for the one room. He gives her a key but forbids her to use it. Of course, she does and realizes what her fate is going to be--there are seven women hanging in the room (pretty harsh stuff). Anyway, it is now up to her to be enterprising and survived. The conclusion is a bit scattered, but it's fun anyway.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) It's certainly difficult to make a silent, black-and-white movie about a title character that already has a color in his name. And I have to say Méliès did not fail entirely in his attempt here, but it's still not a really good achievement by any means in my opinion. There was so much going on all the time on the screen in this one that it was actually difficult to follow and only understand the very basic elements of what exactly was happening. This film runs for almost 10 minutes, which was fairly long for that era, but not entirely uncommon for Méliès whose films became longer and longer by 1901. All in all, still I have to say I was not really impressed watching this and I hoped it would be better looking at its IMDb-rating. Not recommended.

Michael_Elliott Bluebeard (1901) aka Barbe-bleue ** 1/2 (out of 4) An interesting if not totally successful film from Georges Melies. After seven wives have mysterious died, Bluebeard holds a contest to pick his eighth wife. Things are going as planned until the ghosts of the seven previous wives show up. This here is certainly a horror film from start to finish but it's a shame the film gets off to such a weak start. The ending, with the wives returning, is very well done.In early 2008 a box set with over 170 Meiles films will be released and it's certainly long overdue.

Cineanalyst Film historians, like Richard Abel, sometimes split most of the films of Georges Méliès into two categories: the trick films, which are the shorter, generally one-scene films that are entirely about the attraction of the special effects, and the féeries, or fairy films, which are longer, narrative films, fantastic in their subjects, and with multiple tableaux. "Bluebeard" is obviously one of the féeries. Characteristic of the genre, it even has a fairy that manipulates the characters, including their dreams, and the plot of the film. Later films that are often considered fairy films (or fantasy films), such as "Le Voyage dans la lune" (1902), don't involve a fairy to such an extent. Méliès began making these longer narrative films by 1899, beginning with "Cinderella" (Cendrillon). As with "Cinderella" and about every story film of his, Méliès uses the tableaux vivant style, dissolves to transition between the single-shot scenes and studio sets for a theatrical style of narrative. Exhibitors also tended to rely upon the extra-filmic lecturer (which was common then even for non-narrative films, but they became especially useful in aiding audiences in following complex narratives such as this one). Méliès would even provide exhibitors with the narration for the lecturers--including story details that would otherwise be uncertain or unknown. In addition, as with "Cinderella", "Bluebeard" is based on a story by Charles Perrault. Other filmmakers would eventually create more cinematic story films, but at first, they would imitate Méliès's féeries, but with their own regional influences, such as in Robert W. Paul's "The Magic Sword" (1901) and Edwin S. Porter's "Jack and the Beanstalk" (1902). Pathé was also quick to imitate all things Méliès and to try to take over his market.On its own, "Bluebeard", at ten scenes, is an elaborate production for its time when compared to the short films of often only one shot that continued to coexist with the development of these story films. Méliès would even continue to make both kinds of films. Additionally, although stagy, the set designs by Méliès were the best in filmdom at the time. The film's story is also very good for a Méliès production, including two rather macabre scenes. I especially appreciate the demon, or devil, and fairy characters. They both watch over Bluebeard's wife; the demon, or devil, tempts her into danger, while the fairy protects her against harm. In the dream scene, they both control the wife's superimposed dream images above her. The fairy's control of the narrative reappears in the aforementioned "The Magic Sword" and "Jack and the Beanstalk", as well as in other Méliès films such as "Kingdom of the Fairies" (1903)--reaffirming its centrality to the fairy film.