A different way of telling a story

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This short film by Georges Méliès runs for approximately three minutes and thus slightly longer then the common length for films back around 1899. And it surely needs this duration as the film is packed with action from start to finish. Good attention from detail from Méliès and we basically see the theme of good vs. evil, a recurring theme often used by Méliès in his works, more frequently than by other filmmakers back then certainly. Hardly anybody dared to depict the devil, but Méliès did not only do that all the time, but also played him himself. Basically the devil uses the art of deception in order to slowly take over a convent and his followers, little boys dressed as evil, rise as well. We see a huge devil grimace in the background and it looked slightly similar to an evil version of the moon from Méliès most famous film. When several priests with crosses show up, the spook is over pretty quickly and Lucifer himself gets vanished by Erzengel Michael come to life in the end. Worth a watch for silent film enthusiasts mainly for the story, but also for all the smoke and special effects.

This is another of Georges Méliès fantasy shorts. In this one Satan appears in a convent and takes the guise of a priest. Before long he announces himself and scares away the nuns. H then proceeds to make the place his own with various demonic décor and a selection of minions. The religious authorities eventually rise up and defeat him, banishing him from the convent.I wouldn't say this is one of Méliès best. It's still inventive and full of trick shots. We would expect nothing less from the great man. But it's perhaps not as visually interesting as some others he made at the time. Still well worth seeing if you are interested in the earliest days of film.

Devil in a Convent, The (1899) *** 1/2 (out of 4) aka Le Diable au couvent Very entertaining film from director Melies has the devil entertaining a convent where he disguises himself as a Priest to take advantage of some nuns. The special effects here are very good as the devil slowly removes all the religious stuff from the convent and turns it into his home full of devilish statues. This is a very interesting approach to a religious film as well as we see the devil take over but soon the religious people come together to try and fight him and send him back to Hell. There are a few brief laughs but for the most part the film takes itself pretty seriously. This is certainly one of the director's better films.

A priest is officiating at a convent, when suddenly he is transformed into the devil, who frightens away the nuns and turns the place into a outlet of Pandemonium. Another of Melies' wonderful combinations of stage and film magic, this tells a fine little story of the triumph of faith.But how did he get into the convent in the first place? This is one of the many previously lost or infrequently seen Melies pictures that have been made available by Serge Bromberg, David Shepherd and a myriad of other hands in the newly issued DVD set GEORGES MELIES: FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA. Required viewing for anyone interested in the history of movies ..... and a lot of fun.