| The Laboratory of Mephistopheles | |
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| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
| Based on | TheFaust legend |
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| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
The Laboratory of Mephistopheles (French:Le Cabinet de Méphistophélès),[2] initially released in Britain and America asLaboratory of Mephistopheles[3] and also known asThe Cabinet of Mephistopheles,The Devil's Laboratory,[4]Faust's Laboratory, andThe Laboratory of Faust,[5] is an 1897shortsilent film directed byGeorges Méliès, loosely inspired by theFaust legend.[6]
Mephistopheles, thedemon who appears in the Faust legend,[4] disguises himself as an old man and waits on customers in his laboratory. As the customers prepare to leave, however, Mephistopheles mystifies them with various magical pranks and cavorts under several animal disguises, taunting them with a beautiful vanishing lady and trapping them briefly in a cage. One of the customers, noticing a sword on the wall, manages to cut Mephistopheles's head off, but it remains alive and eventually reattaches itself to its body. Finally, to the great relief of the customers, Mephistopheles himself ends up trapped in his own cage.[5]
The Laboratory of Mephistopheles was released by Méliès'sStar Film Company and is numbered 118–120 in its catalogues.[3] It was shown at Méliès's own Paris theatre of illusions, theThéâtre Robert-Houdin, in early October 1897, along with four other new Méliès films:The Barber and the Farmer,The Charcoal Man's Reception,The Bewitched Inn, andA Hypnotist at Work. The newspaperLe Journal reported that the films were novel and received with much success.[5] In February 1898, the magicianDavid Devant toured British towns with the film as part of his act, advertising it under the titlesThe Laboratory of Faust andFaust's Laboratory.[5]
The film has been cited both as the first Faustian film[2] and as Méliès's firstliterary adaptation,[6] and is believed to be the first film in which Méliès experimented with the special effect ofmultiple exposure.[7] It is currently presumedlost.[3]
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