Gaston Velle


Gaston Velle was a French silent film director and pioneer of special effects, who was prominent in early French and Italian cinema during the first two decades of the 20th century. Like his father, the Hungarian entertainer Joseph "Professor" Velle, Gaston began his career as a travelling magician, before putting his illusionist skills to work in cinema and ultimately creating more than fifty films between 1903 and 1911. He worked under Auguste and Louis Lumière, before serving as the head of production for the Italian film studio Cines. But he is best remembered for his work at Pathé, where he was hired to produce trick films that might rival those of his contemporary, Georges Méliès, including classic shorts like Burglars at Work. Some films pioneered lasting techniques, such as his Les Invisibles – the first known invisible man film.
Velle also created some of the first féerie films, such as tit-for-tat. Additionally, Velle collaborated with other directors such as Segundo de Chomon and Ferdinand Zecca to create such silent film classics as the Moon Lover, the Raja's Casket, and the Hen that Laid the Golden Egg, the latter of which was featured in the 1997 Martin Scorsese film, Kundun.
Velle mysteriously retired from film production in 1913, and little is known about the last several decades of his life. Still, Velle remained part of a prominent cinematic family. Most notably, his son Maurice Velle, a Parisian cinematographer, had a family with screenwriter Mary Murillo.

Filmography

  • 1904 – Dévaliseurs nocturnes
  • 1904 – La danse du Kickapoo
  • 1904 – Le paravent mystérieux
  • 1904 – La danse des apaches
  • 1904 – Danses plastiques
  • 1904 – Les dénicheurs d'oiseaux
  • 1904 – La métamorphose du papillon
  • 1904 – Japonaiseries
  • 1904 – La Valise de Barnum
  • 1904 – Métamorphose du roi de pique
  • 1904 – Un drame dans les airs
  • 1904 – Le Chapeau magique
  • 1905 – La poule aux œufs d'or
  • 1905 – Sidney, le clown aux échasses
  • 1905 – La fée aux fleurs
  • 1905 – Rêve à la lune ou L'amant de la lune
  • 1905 – Les cartes lumineuses ou Les cartes transparentes
  • 1905 – Ruche merveilleuse
  • 1905 – Coiffes et coiffures
  • 1905 – John Higgins, le roi des sauteurs
  • 1905 – L'antre infernal
  • 1905 – Un drame en mer
  • 1905 – L'аlbum merveilleux
  • 1906 – Le Bazar du Père Noël
  • 1906 – Onore rusticano
  • 1906 – Il pompiere di servizio
  • 1906 – Heures de la mondaine
  • 1906 – Enlèvement à bicyclette
  • 1906 – Il dessert di Lulù
  • 1906 – L'accordéon mysterieux
  • 1906 – Bicyclette présentée en liberté
  • 1906 – Mariage tragique
  • 1906 – Le garde fantôme
  • 1906 – Les Invisibles
  • 1906 – La Peine du talion
  • 1906 – Les effets de la foudre
  • 1906 – Cuore e patria
  • 1906 – La fée aux pigeons
  • 1906 – Quarante degrés à l'ombre
  • 1906 – Otello
  • 1906 – Voyage autour d'une étoile
  • 1906 – L'есrin du rajah
  • 1906 – Les Fleurs animées
  • 1907 – Petit Jules Verne
  • 1907 – Le secret de l'horloger
  • 1907 – Le petit prestidigitateur
  • 1907 – Le secret de l'horloger
  • 1907 – Au pays des songes
  • 1907 – Artista e pasticciere
  • 1907 – Gitane
  • 1907 – Pile électrique
  • 1907 – Petit Frégoli
  • 1907 – Fille du chiffonnier
  • 1907 – Primavera senza sole
  • 1907 – Triste jeunesse
  • 1907 – Un moderno Sansone
  • 1907 – Le crime du magistrat
  • 1908 – Après le bal
  • 1908 – Lapins du docteur
  • 1908 – Confession par téléphone
  • 1908 – Première nuit de noces
  • 1908 – Polichinelle
  • 1908 – Le spectre
  • 1908 – Dîner providentiel
  • 1908 – Le triple rendez-vous
  • 1910 – Isis
  • 1910 – Cagliostro, aventurier, chimiste et magicien
  • 1910 – Au temps des Pharaons
  • 1910 – La rose d'or
  • 1910 – Le charme des fleurs
  • 1910 – Le fruit défendu
  • 1910 – L'oracle des demoiselles
  • 1910 – Rêve d'art
  • 1911 – Fafarifla ou le fifre magique
  • 1911 – L'armure de feu
  • 1911 – Le cauchemar de Pierrot
  • 1913 – ''La nuit rouge''