Better Late Then Never

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A drunk checks into a room. At first he is irrational and silly. But eventually he wants to get some sleep. As Melies has done numerous times, this is not going to happen. Pictures come alive, he is attacked by a hat tree, his boots walk up the wall. Whenever he tries to sleep, the bed comes alive. He begins to defend himself and it only gets worse. This is a common plot line. It allowed Melies to put a human being in a totally frustrating setting. Entertaining.

"L'auberge du bon repos" or "The Inn Where No Man Rests", which is actually the exact opposite of the French title, is a black-and-white silent short film by film pioneer Georges Méliès from 112 years ago. At 5 minutes, it runs longer than most of his other, especially early, works. The most fascinating thing about it is probably how many different genres Méliès included in here: drama, comedy, fantasy, horror... And of course, with all the trick effects, it is once again a magic show by the French master. However, the core genre here is obviously comedy, but i cannot say I found all the mayhem in here really funny. It's an okay watch once, but there is nothing too memorable about it in my opinion and I have seen many better films from Méliès. Decent watch for all who love the French filmmaker, but everybody else can do without it.

Inn Where No Man Rests, The (1903) *** (out of 4) aka L'Auberge du bon Repos George Melies, in a drunken state, walks into a room, which eventually begins to come to life with various magical tricks. This film here runs five minutes and it starts off rather slowly but once the room comes to life it becomes a lot of fun. Once again, the moon and the Devil play parts in the movie but we've also got a really weird scene at the start when Melies tries to force himself on a woman. We've seen this type of film before from the director but he still manages to make this entertaining due in large part to some very good special effects including his boots taking off walking, his bed jumping around and the highlight is the scene where his nightshirt gets eaten by a picture on the wall.

Georges Méliès was an early film genius. Whereas most of the early silent films were very dull when seen today because they featured very mundane subjects (such as babies eating or a puppy going for a walk), his films had real plots, sets and special effects. When seen today, many will either think his films were quaint or silly, but for the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this was the cutting edge of cinema.This particular short is very similar to his other short, THE BLACK IMP--using many of the exact same film tricks. In this case, a man checks in to an inn and all kinds of crazy special effects are used to keep him from getting to sleep. However, despite the subject matter being a tad familiar, once again it is executed so well that you probably won't mind--especially as it is still very creative and funny. I particularly liked watching the boots walk up the wall, but all the crazy things that happened in this room at the inn are quite clever and engaging.