The Voyage Across the Impossible (1904)
"Le voyage à travers l'impossible" (original title)

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

Director:

Georges Méliès

Writers:

Georges Méliès, Jules Verne (play),

Stars:

Georges Méliès

Cast

Cast overview:
Georges Méliès

Storyline

Using every known means of transportation, several savants from the Geographic Society undertake a journey through the Alps to the Sun which finishes under the sea.

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Plot Keywords:

sun | stop motion | train | u boat | submarine | 

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Genres:

Short | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

October 1904 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Impossible Voyage

Company Credits

Production Co:

Georges Méliès, Star-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Color (hand-colored)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

For a few seconds, a pole can clearly be seen holding the anthropomorphic sun up.

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: Az európai film kezdetei (1989)

User Reviews

Strongly inspired by his earlier film LE VOYAGE DANS LE LUNE, but still very much worth watching

Director Georges Méliès was an absolutely brilliant early filmmaker and innovator. His camera tricks, use of a complex plot and sets, and fun-loving fantasy elements in his films made him the greatest film maker of his day. While I recently read that THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (from Edison Inc.) was the "first full-length film", this simply isn't true, as Méliès' LE VOYAGE DANS LE LUNE (1902) preceded it and was a much more complex film--featuring amazing sets and lots of laughs as a group of scientists take a trip to the moon and meet the evil moon men! Only a year later, in an attempt to outdo his previous success, Méliès made this film about another group of wacky scientists who take a trip to the Sun as well as under the sea!! And, while the original film was a very long 14 minutes (that WAS full-length in its day), this one is 20--making it probably the longest film of its day.

While the new film is obviously strongly derived from the previous Méliès epic, compared to all other films of the day it is still brilliant and not even close to being matched. BUT, my score of 9 is more a way to indicate that it isn't quite as good as his film about the Moon. But, it is still very, very watchable and cute even today (something that can't be said of most other films of the age).

If you want to see this film online, go to Google and type in "Méliès" and then click the video button for a long list of his films that are viewable without special software.