The Witch (1906)

Interesting facts

The Witch is a 1906 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. The film is named for a witch, Carabosse, who tells a poor troubadour that he is destined to rescue a damsel in distress, but demands a high price for a magic charm to help the troubadour in his quest. When the troubadour cheats the witch to obtain the magic charm, she sets out in pursuit of him, and puts various obstacles in his way before finally being vanquished by forces of good.

Production

The film was one of several commissioned from Méliès by the Grands Magasins Dufayel department store, which projected féerie films for children to watch in an adjoining room while their parents were shopping. The Dufayel showings were accompanied by various arrangements of sound effects, music, and spoken commentaries.

According to advertisements, the film was inspired by Breton folklore; preproduction sketches indicate that Méliès initially planned to call it La Princesse Fatale. The witch Carabosse, for whom the film was finally named, had been a central figure in French fairy tales since her creation by Madame d'Aulnoy in the story "The Princess Mayblossom".

Special effects in the film were carried out using stage machinery, horizontally rolling scenery, pyrotechnics, substitution splices, multiple exposures, and dissolves. The title lettering style, seemingly inspired by Gothic art, was used the same year in Méliès's films The Tramp and the Mattress Makers and Soap Bubbles. The actors are uncredited, but film historian Georges Sadoul believed Méliès himself to be in the film as the witch Carabosse.

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