The Pillar of Fire

The Pillar of Fire (1899)

La danse du feu

A devil wearing bat-like wings and brandishing a trident dances around a giant pot, conjuring forth flame from his trident to lit a fire beneath the pot. After the devil works the fire with bellows, an angelic woman emerges from the pot. The devil and the pot vanish as the woman performs a dance, waving about her diaphanous sleeves until she conjures forth another fire, then she rises amongst the smoke into the air.

Date of release
1899-01-01
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (61)
Runtime
1m
Genres
Fantasy, Adventure, Horror
Director
Georges Méliès

Casting

Interesting facts

The Pillar of Fire, initially released in America and Britain as Haggard's "She"—The Pillar of Fire and also known as La Colonne de feu, is an 1899 silent trick film directed by Georges Méliès based on H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel She: A History of Adventure. It is an early fantasy film depicting a devil.

Production

The Pillar of Fire was the first film to be based on H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel She: A History of Adventure. Rather than attempting to tell the whole story of the novel, Méliès used one of its characters as inspiration for a trick film, recalling the scene in the novel in which Ayesha stands amid flames. At least six other adaptations of She were made in the silent era.

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