Now here’s a pleasant surprise: Amazon Instant has a copy of the Georges Méliès 1902 classic film “A Trip to the Moon” fully restored with special soundtrack by the French electronic music duo Air.
This 16-minute film was shot in black and white in Méliès’ studio with practical effects, intricately detailed sets, doubled film exposure, and cutting during the scenes, really pushing the envelope of creative cinema for its era. Before distribution, some of the film strips were hand-colored; only a few of those copies survive to today. The restoration uses modern film technologies to clean up the ancient print and restore lost frames from B&W film stock. The result is a lot better than before, and the Air soundtrack adds to the ambiance of this ancient piece of pre-space-age science fiction.
Work was performed by the Technicolor Foundation.