A Thousand Voices Talk

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HUGO and The First Movie Magicians

with Martin Scorsese’s Hugo primed to lose the best picture Oscar this sunday, it’s important to fan the rare flames of interest in early cinema that the film has ignited for audiences of all ages and passions (it’s very strange to me that people are lumping The Artist in with Hugo as if “early cinema” were merely a relative term. also, fuck The Artist). Scorsese’s film provided a stirring glimpse at how the practice of stage magic directly informed the cinema, almost as if it were answering the wistful resignation of Sylvain Chomet’s equally beautiful 2010 film, The Illusionist.

this neat new Fandor video further explores that idea, providing a brief look at some of the other pivotal figures who first incanted movie magic.