George Méliès’ restored A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) with documentary The Extraordinary Voyage

Méliès’ masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon first appeared on the big screen 110 years ago. The colour version of this innovative work, hand-painted frame by frame, was considered lost for many years, until a print, in a desperate condition, was found in Spain in 1993. It is this version, which has been meticulously restored and brought back to life. Accompanying A Trip to the Moon, which opened the 2011 Cannes Film Festival to widespread acclaim, is an original soundtrack from the hugely popular French musicians, AIR. Park Circus will release Méliès’ magical mystery moon-ride on DVD in the UK from November 26, 2012.

Supplementing this comprehensive DVD edition is a superb detailed documentary by Serge Bromberg (Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno) and Éric Lange titled, The Extraordinary Voyage. Delving into what became one of the most sophisticated and expensive film restorations in cinema history and featuring words from acclaimed directors and fans of the film: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), The Extraordinary Voyage makes for the perfect companion to this exciting new release and a fascinating and revealing portrait of an eternal classic.

In a visually stunning, action-filled 16 minutes, A Trip to the Moon presents a tale of six scholars and members of the Astronomers' Club who set off on an expedition to the moon. They travel in a bullet-shaped rocket fired into space by a giant canon. After arriving on the moon, they meet its inhabitants, escape their king and return to earth in their rocket, which, after falling into the ocean, is fished out by a sailor. Applause, decorations and a triumphant parade for the six heroes of the first outer-space adventure in the history of cinema play out to AIR’s thumping soundtrack.

A Trip to the Moon with accompanying documentary The Extraordinary Voyage is released on DVD in the UK from Monday November 26, 2012. Total DVD run-time: 80-minutes

Extras:

• Documentary by Serge Bromberg and Éric Lange – The Extraordinary Voyage
• Image Gallery – A Trip to the Moon
• Image Gallery – The Extraordinary Voyage