Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Hitchcoc Why one has to go into outer space to get to the North Pole is a question to ponder. Apparently, there were numerous expeditions going and the airship appears to be the one that succeeds. After forming diverse crew from several countries and throwing out the women, the air bus embarks on its journey. It goes past several constellations, including Scorpio and Pisces as well as Gemini. When the explorers finally get to the North Pole, there is really nothing to do. They run around and meet up with a monster and one of them gets eaten. Since they were from all countries, the monster got to choose between German, French, Chinese, Spanish, etc. This could have been played for laughs but wasn't. Anyway, it is all visual and the whole process of exploring is wasted. These guys really don't have a clue. As for Melies, he is still doing the same stuff.

MartinHafer In many, many ways, this film is like Georges Méliès' triumph from almost a decade earlier--"Voyage Dans le Lune". In fact, if you didn't know they were made 9 year apart, you would have sworn that they were made at the same time. While I enjoyed the film a lot, the similarity in style is an indicator why this wonderful filmmaker soon fell out of favor--he was using techniques that had just become passé. Crowds were looking for something new. But the only really new aspect of "The Conquest of the Pole" is that it is very, very lengthy for a Méliès product--at 33 minutes (which was pretty long for 1912).The movie begins with a bizarre scientific meeting. The leading minds from all over the world are meeting to discuss how to go to the pole. Some want to take cars, some want balloons and others want flying contraptions. It's funny because they folks mostly just argue (like they did in "Voyage Dans le Lune"), some of the folks there seem way out of place (such as the Mexican banditos) and it only gets worse when the comic relief arrives in the form of obnoxious suffragettes. The director was obviously making a statement about women's rights here and portrays their leader as a total jerk.Soon the various expeditions begin and soon most of them result in killing these people. However, although they'd only talked about building the one flying machine, the sky is filled with hundreds or more! Now you'd think this would be a pretty straight-forward flight but it looks like his moon movie once again--and the flying machine is whizzing past stars, planets and comets--all being held in the air by beautiful women.The arrival gets weird, as they soon see a giant--and the giant is a very funny piece of equipment. You really have to see it and the ending to believe them.The bottom line is that this film, quality-wise, is little improvement over Méliès' early films BUT it does have a certain quaint charm. You can't help laugh at many of the situations (especially when the giant eats a member of the expedition) and it's a cute window into a bygone era. Amazing to look at and a bit silly as well. This is among the filmmaker's last films--and is a nice window into what he was doing before he stopped making films entirely the following year.

CitizenCaine Georges Melies' film The Conquest Of The Pole is similar to several of his earlier adventure films except this film is much longer than most. As a result, many viewers claim this film is not quite as good as the others due to the padding of some scenes, especially the flying to the North Pole sequence when the aircraft passes constellation after constellation. The aircraft, though crude and ridiculously unrealistic, is synonymous with the backdrop/sets and other effects in the film. Remember, The Wright Brothers had only paved the way for air travel a few years before. Once at the pole, terrific action sequences occur with an ice monster of some sort followed by a rescue. By now Melies had fallen behind the times with developing film techniques, such as crosscutting, meaning Melies' development as a filmmaker was related more to his being a magician and an effects wizard and not necessarily his being a storyteller. The only issue in the film is there are only five explorers visible at the pole when several more were selected to go to begin with. *** of 4 stars.

wes-connors Scholars from all over the world assemble in Paris, to discuss making a trip to the North Pole. Suffragettes want to be included, but the men throw them out of the room. An aeroplane is determined to be the mode of transportation. In a factory, workers build the airship. Along the way, professor Georges Melies and his crew see the signs of the zodiac. Arriving at the North Pole, the men are startled to find it inhabited - but not by the jolly man you may be expecting. This film is very much like Mr. Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), but more than twice as long and less than half as entertaining.***** A la conquete du pole (1912) Georges Melies ~ Georges Melies, Fernande Albany