A Trip to Mars (1910)

Director: Ashley Miller

Cast:

Synopsis: A scientist discovers reverse gravity and goes to Mars in the process.

This short special-effects movie from Edison mimics the kind of movies Melies was making at a time when cinema was moving away from attractions and towards the kind of more realistic narrative film being made by D. W. Griffith. This could explain why both Melies and Edison were finished in the movie business within the next few years.   In A Trip to Mars, we see a scientist developing a powder which reverses gravity.   After testing the powder on some household objects, he dusts himself and sets off on a trip to Mars.   To be fair, some of the effects when he is on the red planet are quite impressive, although exactly what one gigantic inhabitant does to our hero is a bit unclear – he seems to turn him into a snowball which he then proceeds to melt.   Worth a look, but this type of film would be more or less obsolete within a couple of years.

(Reviewed 7th March 2012)