Yes Georges Melies was a magician before a cinematic genius and he was often referred to as a cinemagician. His sensibility from the stage to the camera and film still remains, his manner,thatricality , his passion for illusion and his conversation with the audience. Early film at this stage is a vehicle purely to entertain and Melies approach opened him to a whole new vocabulary behind the camera.
Accidents and experimentation led to techniques which are common today, in Le Diable Noir cut and paste editing was necessary as the hand cranked camera was not accurate enough. The techniques inwhich the audience was indifferent to at the time heightened the energy and the surreal character of the film. These were modes which were often found accidentally and eclipsed the narrative. Melies playful application to film is distinct from say Eisensteins revolutionary propagandist film battleships potemkin. Eisensteins wholesome, political narrative being that of the russian revolution reversed this relation of narrative versus technical trickality. Eisenstein attempted an edit inorder to provoke a high emothional response from the audience but this was completely driven by the narrative .
